The Trees Walk!
by uniabocetaP
Summary: During a planet class M survey, the USS Enterprise's away team had to be beamed onboard due a verious unusual attacker... Story is complete and will be posted twice per week :D
1. Walking Trees

_Captain's Log, Stardate: 7650.57_

_During geological scanning of a class M planet located at the unexplored star system 5879D, we received a strange signal. As we had evidence of alien humanoid life, I sent an away team on the surface of the planet to investigate the source of the signal. The away team, led by Mr Sulu, encountered the remnants of a catastrophy: advanced humanoids have lived and died on the surface of this planet. The demise of their civilization must be the result of the last 4 decades. They sent a distress signal due a very curious situation..._

* * *

"Captain, something is moving against our away team on the class M planet that we are currently surveying". Spock raised his eyes from the monitor, slight confusion written on his Vulcan features.

"What is it, Mr Spock?" Kirk was on his feet immediately, on alert.

"The creatures... those readings indicate that they are… treemonoid."

"Treemonoid?" Bones' cranky voice came from the door of the turbolift. "Are you out of your Vulcan mind Spock? Treemonoid!"

"Yes, Dr McCoy. Treemonoid is the equivalent term of _humanoid_ for trees. The termis classified under the general umbrella term plantomonoid, which is used to describe alien forms that resemble Earth plants".

"But they move. How can trees move?" Kirk interrupted Bones before he could utter a caustic response to his first officer. He was staring at Spock's screen, peering at the readings above his shoulder."Bones, ideas?"

"How should I know? I am a Doctor, not a fucking biologist!"

"Then get me one" Kirk ordered and moved to his Captain's chair.

#############

"McCoy to Chang". Li Ann heard the ship's first medical officer calling her from the intercom. For a moment she panicked; did she forget her medical examination? No, she did her trimester's exam last week, it could not be about that.

Maybe they had found something wrong with her. Maybe she was sick and once she reported to sick bay she would be put on bed rest. Panic welled inside her; she was so scared of Dr. McCoy, but at least Nurse Chapel was always firm but always kind to her.

Deep breath, she answered the call. "Chang to McCoy. Sir, how can I help you?"

"Report to the bridge, immediately" the gruff voice commanded and Li Ann relaxed. She was fine, nothing wrong with her. She mentally kicked herself as she headed to the turbolift. Of course she was fine, most likely it was relevant to the yellow alert.

Which begged the question, why did they call her? Exciting!

############

"Dr. Chang, are you familiar with treemonoids?" The Enterprise's Captain was serious and demanded professionalism, but for Li Ann it was always a bit of a problem. There was a slight hint of either a smirk or a scowl on Kirk's face, which made her to want to laugh.

"Yes, sir. Treemonoids are the result of intergalactic parallel evolution. They are all alien forms that have evolved similar traits and characteristics to our earth trees. They fall under the umbrella term of plantamonoid" her answer was swift and, as she hoped not with too much information. She was not sure what to make of Lt. Spock's raised eyebrow or the sour expression on Dr. McCoy.

"Thank you, Doctor. Mr Spock has already given us a description of the term..."

"Not as thorough or scientific as yours, though" Dr McCoy interrupted the Captain, in a way that it would not be tolerated in any other starship. But James T Kirk seemed not to mind.

"I merely strive to illustrate my points in a way that all minds will see the logic behind".

"Yes, thank you Mr Spock" Kirk raised his hand in acknowledgment of his first officers. "Now, Dr Chang, are you familiar with Treemonoids?"

"Not specifically. However, I have worked with intergalactic parallel evolution of Arabidae, a grass type family of plants. I am familiar with the genomics and ecology of the phenomenon in plants, just not the specific group. Sir".

"Good! Now tell me, have you encountered any of those… grasses walking?"

Li Ann was about to laugh, but the Captain's serious expression halted her. "Not that I am aware of. Sir?"

"As you know we had an away team sent to investigate the Class M planet, which we are currently orbiting. We had to beam them on board once Treemonoids started chasing them".

"Walking trees?! Like the Ents!" Li Ann could not stop herself from yellign with excitement. Treemonoids! That had evolved movement equivalent to animals! Oh, she could only start to imagine the majestic properties of their morphology and physiology! Did they have joints? Had the same regions of the genomes with animals evolved?

"Ents?"

"Like the trees in Lord of the Rings, Dr McCoy. A classic from the 20th century" Uhura was a classic fantasy reader, Li Ann was in her reading club, holding meetings every second Thursday.

"Aaa, that guy was Russian". An ensign commended from the helm.

"I am afraid you are wrong, as always, Pavel" Uhura corrected him.

"Attention!" Came Kirk's voice. "Dr Chang, I want you to meet with Mr Sulu, who led the away team and work with him to find out how those Treemonoids walk, why they chased my away team and if they are related with the destruction of the humanoid culture on the planet. I will form a new away team to investigate on sight. Please have rsecommendations ready for 1500".

############

It was 1500 hours and Li Ann was still struggling with the data Mr Sulu had collected. Everyone in Starfleet was taught how to do data collection, but it was obvious why Mr Sulu was Enterprise's helmsman and not a science officer. She tried to remind herself, that even though he loved plants, he must have gotten scared and could not function in the expected high efficiency.

Still, Li Ann was grumpy.

Thankfully, Mr Spock had offered to do data mining for her and look for reports of similar incidents. Unfortunately, he had found nothing. Fortunately, he was more familiar with Mr Sulu's method of data collection and now was helping her go through his weird filling system.

"Dr. Chang, Mr Spock, Mr Sulu." Captain Kirk entered the room and took a seat across from the two of them. He folded his arms in front of him. "Report on your findings".

Mr Spock nodded to Li Ann, allowing her to give their progress report. She felt a surge of gratitude for the Vulcan; as Enterprise's first officer was his prerogative to take the lead. However, he acknowledged that he was not the expert and let her take the lead.

"We figured out that the Treemonoids are actually walking. This was not the result of a hallucinating substance that had entered the away team's systems" she paused to assess how Kirk would react to her calling his away team liars. However, it was the first logical step and Mr Spock had not disagreed in investigating the possibility.

The Captain accepted her assessment silently. He merely waved her to go on with her report.

"We found out that the Trees were moving through a construct that resembles aerial roots. They seem to use an ABA orthologue to grow them fast, to the direction they wish to move. Then, they accelerate the formation of bark through the old arial roots, which they break and the tree mass is pulled towards the remaining roots. Mr Sulu, while looking through the planet's scanning images, has found traces of above ground roots with 5 to 10cm diameter, which are 100% formed of bark tissue".

"They do not sound like they have evolved very efficiently" Kirk commented slowly.

"First of all, this is not exactly how aerial roots evolve. Moreover, we have not enough information to know, why they evolved to walking Treemonoids. With the data that we have now, we cannot be sure how they do it, let alone why".

Mr Spock nodded in agreement. "Dr Chang is right. Unfortunately we have found nothing in the archive to help with our search. However, we do not believe they are hostile".

"Very well, we will have to go to have a closer look at them, then." Kirk stood and nodded for all three of them to follow him. He did not care to give many details of his arrangemens, he simply led them to the transporter room.

There, a small team waited for them. Dr McCoy was standing at the side, grumpy as usual, but also a favorite pick of Kirk's for the away team. A science officer from the Betazoid was fidgeting with her tricorder. Once she sensed Li Ann's gaze on her she met her eyes and smiled. Li Ann recognized in the impish smile Annagret; Spock's assistant and a known devil with card games. She always won at poker.

The rest of the team were members from the first expedition on the planet; Mr Sulu and three Security officers. They looked cool and confident; unlike her, whose back was dripping in sweat and a colony of butterflies had taken residence in her belly.

Kirk got his place on the transporter. "Mr. Scott, you will have command of the Enterprise. Lt Uhura will have a constant communication channel open, even though we expect no trouble".

"Ai sir, no worries, we will be keeping an eye on you. We will pull you out of there as soon as there is a reason to do so".

The Captain nodded and offered his hand to help Li Ann to take her place on the transporter. She mumbled thanks bellow her breath, suddenly a bit too intimidated to face him. She suspected that her cheeks had just turned slightly red. As she took her place on the transporter, she noticed one of the red shirts standing at the back; his dark eyes were laughing, and he even rolled them as her blush deepened.

"Mr Scott, we are ready. Beam us down".


	2. Class M Planet

The planet was the most majestic place Li Ann had ever set foot upon. They had been transported in the middle of a forest; the trees were as tall as three store buildings, they looked and felt ancient as they supported vines and other climber plants. They provided shelter for a colorful variety of flowering plants and all kind of insects. The sun rays filtered through the top layers to be dispersed in a multitude of colors; red, violet, blue, green. All the hues split and connected again. She had to wonder about the photosystems; did they absorb light in the same frequencies as plants on Earth? Did the plants perceive shade in red to blue ratios? What was the most important resource they competed for?

And then, it was all the loud noise, so different from the low humming of the Enterprise machines. Birds announced their presence, frogs called for mates and insects clicked for food. All so much like what she could find at home and yet so unique.

Li Ann wanted to whoop with happiness.

"Mr Sulu, point us to the spot you encountered the walking Treemonoids" the Captain was in high alert.

"This way, Captain".

Mr. Sulu led them towards the East. Li Ann, Mr Spock, Dr Mc Coy and Annagret pulled out their tricorders and started scanning their environments. Often, they would transmit information between themselves in silence, while the rest of the Starfleet Officers were in a state of silent bewilderment. Soon, they encountered bark, a couple of centimeters high and no more than 5cm diameter. They looked as if they had been broken violently on the top. Annagret pointed them to Li Ann, who nodded in response. She had noticed them as well.

At start they seemed to be at random places. Then, they realised they were all in the same direction, forming an almost straight line and becoming more frequent as they progressed into the forest. When they reached a clearing filled of lower vegetation and intense sunlight, the broken Treemonoid _legs_ seemed to have coalesced to that specific spot from three different directions.

"Captain, this is the clearing we first encountered the walking Treemonoids" Mr Sulu led the Captain at the center of the cyclical clearing and stood there. Kirk followed him and turned around to take in the surroundings; a lot of knee-high vegetation with colorful leaves and flowers, but not a single tree on sight. The rest of them spread around the clearing, scanning the environment or standing guard.

"We were standing here," Mr. Sulu continued, "examining the carvings on the stones," he pointed at huge rock pillars in front of the Captain. From her spot, Li Ann could only see the tip of them, but Mr. Spock joined them to investigate their properties and purpose. "I touched one of them, but nothing happened at first. After a couple of minutes, Mr. Johnson," Mr. Sulu waved towards the direction of the man, who had noticed Li Ann's blush during transportation, "called for my attention to some weird readings he picked with his tricorder. They originated from three distinct areas" he pointed towards three bigger openings between the circle of trees, where they already had noticed residual bark. "And soon the readings were accompanied by a loud noise of cracking and whistling. It was a while before we saw them; they were massive and slow. Mr Johnson pointed that we were on their path, and it was this moment that Lt Opal", a stern woman looking straight ahead stiffened, "requested for our transport on board".

"Ah, yes" Captain Kirk turned his attention to the lieutenant. He stared at her for a moment before he raised an eyebrow instead of a question.

"Sir. I was charged with the away team's security and deemed our immediate evacuation of the most immediate importance" Lt. Opal still did not look directly to the Captain. _Is she worried of an official reprimand?_ Li Ann realised with wonder. Would she not have already be suspended if this was the case?

"A decision well taken, since security was your responsibility" the Captain turned towards Mr. Johnson and the lead security officer relaxed visibly, her shoulders drooping a little bit. "You noticed them first?"

"Yes, sir."

"How soon did you realise that they were walking Treemonoids?"

"Never, sir".

The Captain cocked his head to the side and Mr. Johnson had to explain. "I am not a botanist or biologist, sir. I am not trained to interpret the tricorder readings beyond basic notions. Also, I was not aware of the term; once they reached the clearing, I saw trees gliding towards us; I did not know at that point they were called Treemonoids;" Li Ann was surprised by the side glance she received "but I tried to get out of their way. They were moving slowly, it was not hard".

"How did you know where they headed," Mr. Spock asked, "if you are not a biologist?"

"I might not be a biologist but I am a trained Starfleet Officer and pilot. It was not hard to predict their trajectory. Sir". Mr. Johnson seemed offended. "They moved in straight paths".

"Very well," the Captain paced around the clearing, eager to get going, act and stop talking, even though he was always serious when debriefing his officers. "They do not seem to be in the area, as we did not pick any signs of them". Li Ann nodded yes when he looked at her for confirmation "And they seem to have reacted to Mr. Sulu interacting to those stone pillars". He had stopped in front of the stone pillars and was pointing at them with an open hand gesture.

"Maybe it was coincidence, Captain" the Enterprise's helsman noted.

"Highly, unlikely, Mr. Sulu" Mr. Spock offered no further explanation, but the Captain seemed to agree. He took a moment to stare at his first Officer, some silent communication passed between them. It was only a moment before Captain Kirk started laying out a plan for them.

"We will split into four teams. Three of the teams will follow the bark root tracks and gather more information about the Treemonoids".

"What could go wrong in a weird, uncharted forest with marvels of evolution, which have not been heard of before? What else could lay waiting for us to stroll unsuspected into their paths?" Li Ann jumped surprised when Dr McCoy started complaining next to her. The medical officer had been surprisingly quiet till that point of the discussion and she had forgotten he was there.

"That is why you will pair up with Lt Opal, Bones" Captain smiled his mischievous smile to Dr McCoy, a known serial complainer who only Lt. Commander Schmid could compete with. "Lt Hass," Annagret took a step forward "you will go with Mr. Sulu, Mr. Johnson could learn a few things about Treemonoids by pairing up with Dr Chang. The rest of us will stay here, investigating the clearing and the stone pillars. Report back at 1700".

AN: I hope you enjoy this! I am planning to post on a biweekly schedule. Comments are always welcome!


	3. Can it walk?

Lin Ann and Mr Johnson headed North East and, soon, they reached a working routine. She would find an object of interest and stop to collect data, which then she would try to fit into bigger groups. At the meantime, Mr Johnson would stand three meters away from her, assuming a protective pose. Mostly, they spend the time in silence, even though she could feel his eyes drifting to her, making her feel self-conscious. She remembered of the moles on her neck and the unruly hair and that her uniform tended to get "bellow Starfleet standards in more than half the time she wore it".

A movement on her left caught her attention. it came from within the low vegetation. She stayed still; would a predator in this planet dare to attack her? Her thought was still incomplete when a small fury creature leaped towards her, hit her awkwardly across the chest and forced her to land on backwards on the ground.

"Dr Chang, are you alright?" Mr Johnson had crossed the three meters between then and now stood above her, removing the fury creature from her chest. She was stunned by him and the fluffiness of the small animal, so she did not react immediately to his extended arm. Eventually, she let him help her to get up.

"I am fine... Not my uniform though", her standard issued pants had a nice rip on her left thigh

"Well, I bet that the Captain will have a more impressively destroyed uniform than you by the end of our little mission".

For moment they stared at each other's eyes, an image of Captain Kirk with a large tear around his chest crossed their minds. They both started laughing at the same time.

"Dr. Chang, I hope you did not suffer any injury" Mr Johnson's eyebrows furrowed with concern.

She waived her hand. "I am alright, please, sir, do not preoccupy yourself with me".

"This is my job's description. Do you wish me to get unemployed?" He performed an overly dramatic gesture, which undercut any spite his words might have held otherwise. Li Ann could not refrain herself from laughing.

"Of course not, do not be alarmed!" She said in awfully fake worry. There was a reason she had never been picked for drama group. "Oh, how can I make you feel better, Mr Johnson?"

"well, for starters you can call me Tom". His proposition was serious, even though he followed quickly his comment with a small apology. "unless you disagree, Dr Chang. I do not mean..."

"It is alright, _Tom_" she put an emphasis on his name, to show she was alright with informality. "I was a PhD before I was a Starfleet Officer. Despite most people's notions about academia, we do not go around calling Dr This and Dr That ourselves. We are pretty chill. Call me Li Ann".

His smile was like the sun. Brilliant and warm. "Alright, then, Li Ann, should we proceed?"

For a while longer they followed the routine they had set before, her observing all the patterns of nature visible around them, him for all those that might endanger them. When she leaned forward to have a closer look at a small vine growing through a tree, Tom spoke up.

"Are you not supposed to be examining the Treemonoid's bark?"

"I am supposed to understand the Treemonoids, Mr…, Tom. Even though it might seem better to only investigate their residuals, they are not alone. Sometimes, we can understand living creatures better when we inspect them as a part of their greater environment. No one and nothing is independent of its environment."

"And, what do you learn about the Treemonoid's environment, by examining that?" Tom waved his hand towards the complex form of the tree and the vine.

Li Ann allowed herself a moment to collect her thoughts before answering. "Our study system is unique. Treemonoids that can walk is a speciation event that has not occurred in any of the known to us systems. We know they are special; we think it is special. But what makes them special? This... Treemonoid, how do you know that it will not jump up and start moving away?"

"I do not". Tom got an instinctive step backwards. "It looks the same tree type as before..."

"Well, it will not start moving. A quick analysis with the tricorder showed me that it differs in at least four aspects of physiology, which seem to be key to develop the adjacent roots that help them move". Li Ann moved closer to the tree. "Now it might not be the most important details...and most likely there are gazillions off differences between the two species" she stretched the word species. Who does not know the term and uses type instead? "And we need a bigger sample size, comparison, environmental data to... Tom?" Li Ann realised that Tom looked horrified, had she scared him with the impromptu popular science talk? She felt blushing again.

Tom did not respond, he just pointed behind her. The tree next to her study sample of the moment was trembling. She could feel no wind on her skin, but a slight tremor made her vibrate. A crackling sound came just the moment a very thin and green aerial root escaped the tree's mid bark. It was green and fresh; it landed a few centimeters away from its main bulk, only to transform into bark in as little time as Li Ann required to point her tricorder towards its direction.

"Watch out!" Tom pulled her away from the tree; she had been too excited to notice all the other roots that have been expanding and the danger they imposed on her wellbeing. Li Ann tried to take a step backwards, not noticing a root protruding from the ground, tripped and fell over.

For a second time in less than five minutes, she was on the ground, while the walking tree sent out roots all around her. Li Ann panicked when she saw the tree moving; she was trapped into its path.

**AN: Comments are always welcome!**


	4. Patterns

Mr Sulu and Lt Haas walked through the forest chatting about anything and everything. In all truth, it was not a particularly amiable chat; Hikaru felt quite insecure around the empath and the knowledge that she could sense his insecurity made him feel even more anxious. Annagret, however, was very discreet; she never commented on his need to fill the distance between them with words in a futile attempt to deceive himself that she could not perceive his feelings. Annagret knew this and respected it. Chekov had once asked her about the situation between her and Sulu at a lower decks' party, much to Hikaru's horror. She had had just laughed it off saying that "Mr Sulu was hardly the only human reacting in a similar way."

Annagret stopped abruptly in front of a messy patch of land, her sharp features distorted first by confusion, then wonder and finally, intense concentration. Spock's protege was the exact opposite of him regarding facial reactions. She never kept any emotion away from her face while Spock strived to imitate a cold stone statue. What a pair; they came from two extremely different cultural upbringings and yet, they worked together well.

"Mr Sulu, do you see residual bark all over the place?" She showed him the tricorder. "I pick up signals of it, but I cannot discern them by naked eye anymore".

They set to work, they both pulled their tricorders out and scanned the small patch of grass. The trace associated with the Treemonoids' "legs" usually followed a straight pattern, but now it's trajectories were messy and mixed, found in a rather random pattern around them. After closer examination, Hikaru noticed a lot of bark in broken pieces on the ground.

"Look, here the traces follow a straight line, again" Annagret pointed to a line of broken bark, originating from the weird patch and forming a 90 degrees corner with the original trail. "I think, that this is the place, where the Treemonoid just switched orientation!" She exclaimed.

"But it is too messy, based on what we know the pattern should follow more the elliptical shape..."

"I know!" She almost jumped up and down. "This is a resting place. This the place where a Treemonoid _lives_".

#####

"Do something!" Li Ann willed the plea to come out of her, but panic overrode any logical action she might have taken. Instead a screech escaped her lips.

"Do not move!" Tom's voice sounded smooth and cool and she vaguely realised he had moved around the tree.

"Stan the damn thing!" She wanted to yell but again an incomprehensible scream manifested from her body.

That would be the end of her; her science would kill her. Now and forever, she would be amongst those that became a cautionary tale.

####

Dr McCoy felt irritated. And a tiny bit awed. What the fuck was that? What were his poor eyes staring at? Maybe he should not have drunk that last glass of whiskey with Scotty the night before.

"Uhm, Doctor? What is that?" Lt Opal was on alert holding her phaser high.

"Do you think you will be able to stun those things?" McCoy stalled for an answer. "Have you ever heard a phaser being used against plants?"

"No, sir, you are right, sir". She looked petrified but somehow, she found the courage to repeat her question. "What is that, though?"

Bones, had no idea what it was, how should he know? He was the ship's head medical officer, not a gardener. He fidgeted with his tricorder, pretending to work on it in order to avoid the simple and yet annoying question. What were the patches of burned grass stretched out in front of him? It seemed as something very heavy had been dragged about in approximate elliptical trajectory across the meadow. Or, maybe, 100 different things had been dragged about in the specific fashion. The index of the bark residuals Chang, Spock and Haas had developed was the highest he had seen till now.

What was this place indeed?

At the moment he almost grungily admitted defeat, he received an update from Haas. "Those are resting places of our walking Treemonoids" he finally looked up at the Security Officer, with a matter of fact expression on his face.

"It looks as if a whole forest of them lived here" a hint of fear had entered her voice.

"Indeed".

"Where are they?" Leonard discerned fear in Opal, and for a moment he felt bad.

However, she was right, where the fuck were they?

######

Silence. Was Li Ann dead? Was death silent and moist with the feeling of leaves falling on top of your face?

"Li Ann?" A soft voice called her name. It came from somewhere above her. "Li Ann?" It prompted her for an answer again.

"Are you God?" She was not a religious person, but, sometimes, she caught herself praying, just to be covered in case there was one.

"I have been called a God before, a God of the sheets, if you get my meaning" wait a minute, she knew that voice. "And for sure I am as handsome as an ancient Greek God".

She opened her eyes and looked up to face Tom. "Ugh, you are an asshole".

"A godlike one, who saved your life".

He was smiling hist unique cockish and mocking smile, causing her to blush. He looked relieved though to hear her talk. Tom was perched between the walking Treemonoid's lower branches, his legs and arms hugging closely the tree.

"Did you just hug the Tree?" Li Ann wanted to cry or laugh. Maybe both.

"Yes! I panicked, I thought you would die. I did not know what to do, but then I remembered that my granny loved to hug trees and she claimed they loved it too. So it was that or you dead" he looked a bit ashamed of his solution, but it had worked for whatever illogical reason. This time, Li Ann did laugh out loud.

"You are a tree hugger!" She kept on laughing.

"A tree hugger saved your life!" He complained. "No, 'thank you'? Wait, what are you doing? Do not move!"

Li Ann tried to move her right leg and a flush of pain got up to her spine and made her dizzy. One of the aerial roots had gone through her leg. As panic gripped her once more, she fainted.

**AN: Comments are always welcome! :D**


	5. Duty calls Dr McCoy

"Spock, analysis" Jim looked at his first officer expectantly. Thus far, Spock had never failed him.

"The stone pillars are not a natural phenomenon. Their molecular composition is not similar to the rock bend bellow our feet; we can deduce that they have been moved here for a specific purpose. Furthermore, their shape has clear signs of manipulation. They were carved in this specific shape and those lines and geometric shapes adorning the top of the pillars should be a form of written language" Spock posed for a moment, concentrated on the dual pillars in front of them. "They corroborate with the civilization analysis we performed onboard of the enterprise".

Kirk nodded his acknowledgement. He started walking around the pillars on wider and wider circles. Abruptly, he came to a halt. "Here are the three tracks left behind by the walking Treemonoids" he pointed to each of them in turn. "And they all coalesce to the pillars".

"That is accurate, captain".

"The first away team beamed onboard before the Trees reached the pillar".

"The walking Treemonoids, Captain".

"Come on, Spock. Even Dr. Chang forgets herself from time to time and refers to them as trees".

"I have noticed, sir. However, she is an evolutionary biologist that can always distinguish the terms while making deductions and assumptions. However, we are not so fortunate in our knowledge of the topic. Furthermore, we are first officers and we should always address everything and everyone appropriately, Captain".

Was that a slight reprimand for him dropping _Mr_ in front of _Spock_? Jim sometimes could not understand him, even though he was sure he was one of the few people in the galaxy who knew him so well.

"Very well, _Mr_ Spock" he put a slight emphasis on Mr, hoping to placate him. However, he had some trouble to refrain from smiling, as he always did when we faced Spock. "This small... Commentary does not provide any explanation on _where_ are the walking Treemonoids. Did they just vanish on thin air? Did they turn around and move away?"

Spock checked his tricorder and then scanned the area around the pillars. Jim followed Spock's back with his eyes while he walked in a similar circle around the pillars as he had done before.

"Your first evaluation of the situation seems to be the closest to the truth, Captain. I have received data from the rest of the away team documenting how a walking Treemonoid resting place would look like and a good model for how any direction of movement would look appear on the ground. None of those are detected in the vicinity".

"Are you suggesting they… vanished into thin air?"

"Approximately 2 meters from the pillar".

Jim sighed. This did not really answer any of their original questions. However, over the last two years of his career as Enterprise's Captain had taught him to trust his crew. They never failed to find all the asnwers and simply put it: save the day.

He had a thought: "Could there be a transportation field generated by the stone pillars?"

Spock thought on it for a while before giving an answer. "Not improbable. However, we cannot disprove or prove this hypothesis with the equipment we currently have".

"Could the Enterprise do it?"

"Yes, the ship could do it".

"Give to Mr Scott all the necessary instructions. Ask Lt Uhura to monitor closely for transmissions from this quadrant of space. Maybe we could detect signals connected with civilization or other transportation events".

"Alright, Captain".

Spock opened a communication channel with Uhura and Scott, while Jim wondered about the whereabouts of the rest of his away team. He hoped nothing had befallen to any of them, especially to Bones. If something happened to his friend, he would not hear the end of it...

"Kirk to McCoy".

"McCoy, here".

"Status update".

"We have encountered an area that should have been inhabited by walking Treemonoids. Lt Opal, Mr Sulu and Lt Haas has joined forces to investigate the area in depth. I am headed towards the location of Mr Johnson and Dr Chang. They found themselves into the path of one of these things and Dr Chang is injured".

"How badly?" Jim thought of the small scientist and felt worry. Her file showed that she was not very good at field work, even though an excellent Officer on board the ship and more than excellent data analysist. She was practically a theoretical scientist and he felt guilt for dragging her along. Perhaps, it would have been better to have left her on board to analyse the stream of data they collected for her...

"How the fuck should I know?" Bones was turning into the cranky Dr McCoy. "I was not there. And I am not there. I am sure though that she is not dead, despite Johnson's fears".

Well, Jim would not get into consideration a worried man's report either. He stole a glance at his first officer.

"Alright, report as soon as you have news. Kirk out".

####

Leonard thought that he was used in weird sights. He had been a Star fleet Officer, often dragged to be part of away teams in ridiculously dangerous planets. Over the years working with Jim, he had made a Top 10 list of the weirdest things a man can see. The scene in front of him made it into the list.

"Why are you hugging the tree? Why are you working, while impaled with a root? I thought you were dead" he looked pointedly at Johnson as he kneeled next to her. She looked a bit paler than usual, but he could get no visual signs of her having lost of considerable amount of blood. He did not rule out the case of a concussion. Why else would she just work while in this position?

"I hugged the tree to stop it from impaling her with its thingies".

"Aerial roots" Chang corrected him. She still had her eyes glued to the screen and Leonard noticed a strain around them. He leaned closer to peer into them, forcing her to look up to him.

"Whatever. Now I am afraid that if I move, the tree will move, and it will kill her". his chocking voice caused Leonard to glance momentarily at Johnson. He looked pale, as well, and utterly worried.

Aha, he thought, what do we have here? I will have to coax Jim into betting for how long they will last dating.

"As I told you before, the tree will be unlikely to move again. ABA and the related gene network is expressed in low amounts" she winced when Leonard touched her thigh lightly. The wound was not too serious, and easily treatable. Nevertheless, she was wise not to move her leg. Maybe he could reward her by delaying her trimester physical exam, which she feared as much as vampires the garlic.

"As if I know what this means" Johnson was getting irritable when anxious and worried.

"Kids, peace" Leonard intervened before she could say something more. "Li Ann, you were a lucky lady today. This wound is going through pure flesh. I will give you broad range antibiotics and I will cauterise here. Nurse Chapel will do the rest once you are onboard. You will heal nicely within the next 24 hours".

"No! I cannot go now! There is something weird with this tree, something that I cannot completely comprehend... something that I miss".

"I am sure that once you are feeling better and you are in top notch health, you will figure it out" Johnson smiled warmly down from among the tree branches.

"I hate to admit it, when a non Medical officer gives a sound medical advice, but Mr Johnson is right" Leonard interjected again as she opened her mouth to respond. "You can do your work from on broad the Enterprise; you did not perform exceptionally well on the field anyway".

He could not hold back the retort, even though it was partly true. It was not his place to comment on her performance during her away mission; however, it was worth throwing some bait, as both of them got hooked.

"I have to say that Li Ann performed admirably, sir" Johnson's tone was official and full of indignation. Chang managed a blush. Leonard wanted to laugh out loud, but this would destroy his reputation as the lord of the Enterprise's grumpy people.

"Dr McCoy. Captain Kirk sent me here to assist you with anything you need". All three of them turned around to face the newcomer; it was the last member of their team, the Ensign who had remained in Kirk and Spock's team.

"Ahh, yes. Help me free Dr Chang. I will give you a hypo spray to help you cope with the pain. I will administer first aid and then leave you in Nurse Chapel's hands. Understood?"

Chang nodded and the ensign moved closer to him, waiting for instructions. Thankfully, he didn't comment on Johnson hugging the damn tree.

"McCoy to Chapel".

"Go ahead Doctor".

"I will be requesting Dr Chang's transport to sick bay. Her right thigh has been pierced by an Aerial root..."

"Yes, Doctor, I am looking at the report you sent me. We can handle it with easy, please do not preoccupy yourself with it" Nurse Chapel was knowledgeable, efficient and to the point, and yet everyone loved her nurturing side. Leonard was more than glad to have her as his aid. Damn, that woman must go to medical school and get her degree, she was far better than most of the Starfleet doctors.

"Alright then, stand by for transportation. One person to sick bay on my mark".

Leonard gave some brief instructions to the ensign, who seemed a bit overwhelmed by the blood crusting on top of Chang's leg. He had to repeat the instructions in shorter sentences and in a more menacing tone, which caught his attention.

Without further ado, they cut the aerial root three centimeters above Chang's leg, he gave the hypo spray to her and Leonard pulled slowly the remaining root from her flesh. She screamed, but did not faint; in fact, he was sure Johnson was more probable to faint. Quickly he stopped the bleeding; the wound might contain pieces of bark, but he trusted Chapel to clear it out properly.

All the while, the Tree remained immobile. Johnson convinced that it might not move after all, he stopped hugging it and hopped down.

"McCoy to Enterprise. One to beam to Sick Bay".

"See? I told you it would not move" Chang smiled weakly to Johnson as she turned into molecules ready to be transported to sick bay. Johnson stared longingly at the spot she occupied just a moment before.

Three months, he gave them three months. It was impossible they would last together longer.

**AN: This was a bit longer than the previous chapters... Comments are always welcome!**


	6. Yellow Alert

On board the Enterprise, Scott and Uhura were conferring about the results of their respective analysis. None of the them liked their conclusions, and they both knew that it would drive Kirk to overreact. Damn, they loved the man, and he was a great Captain, but sometimes, he was a bit too rash. One had to take this into account before breaking any kind of news to him.

"Why are you two worrying?" Chekov called from his place at the helm. "Spock is with him, he can keep him in line".

"And if he cannot, then no one else can" Uhura added. They called the Captain.

#######

"So, I was right. Those things are portals!" Jim was enthused with the result. Maybe, the humanoid civilization was not extinct after all.

Spock raised an inquiring eyebrow. Was that a moment to speak like a five year old boy? He enjoyed Jim's enthusiasm, especially when they were alone, but not when a portal was involved. He let his eyebrow to convey his thoughts, but Jim cared not.

Bones on the other hand was visibly displeased. "This is the last thing we needed! First a whole forest of them gone, vanished, then our specialist wounded in a dreadful accident and now, a portal!"

"Bones, this is a lead we have to investigate".

"You mean to go through the portal!"

"The Captain is right. We need to go through the portal" Jim smiled at Spock, who showed a trace of blush, visible only to the trained eye. Jim's smile became broader, causing him to utter the next warning in a high tone. "However, we need to think all the possible parameters and simulated possible outcomes and then decide on how we proceed". His eyebrow remained challenging.

"I am on it, sir". Annagret was standing close to the border of the meadow, already distributing work to the rest of the away team, who were now clustered around her. Only Bones, Spock and he remained close to the stone pillars, examining the poorly convincing portals.

"Do we even know where these things lead?" Bones moved too close to the pillars, leaned forward to observe more carefully.

"Bones, do not touch them!"

But he could as well not have warned him at all. Bones managed to lose his balance and topple over. Not only did he touched them; he fell on top of them.

Last thing Jim remembered was Mr Johnson's voice shouting a warning, Spock moving behind him and a weird tickling sensation on his body.

####

"Promise me you will not work" Nurse Chapel was more austere than usually.

"I promise!" Li Ann said but she had her toes crossed. The promise did not count then, did it?

"Very well". Nurse Chapel retreated to her office that was next to the sick bay. Li Ann was left alone, or almost alone. An Ensign was sleeping on the bed at the far corner. Her tricorder was left by her bedside.

She would not have left it there if she really was against Li Ann having it, right?

Within a couple of seconds, she was connected through her tricorder to her workstation on the Enterprise.

#####

"What happened?" Montgomery should not have been surprised. This thing happens to the Captain. Another day onboard the Enterprise.

"I said, the Captain, Mr Spock and Dr McCoy went through the portal" Sulu sounded strained, but not as strained as Johnson was when he interfered.

"Dr McCoy fell on top of the pillars, and they were just gone. No visible signal." Johnson went silent for a while, at a loss of words or verifying his next statement, Scotty could not tell. "Mr Scott, I request permission to follow the Captain, Mr. Spock and Dr McCoy".

Montgomery did not expect this. Chekov turned around to face him, such a request was not usual.

"Permission denied." He felt bad for denying them. He stole a glance at Uhura. She was working with her console on a frantic pace; she was adamant that she could pick up the Captain's signal through the universe's signal. "At least till we have a better overview of the problem. Continue gathering data of the stone pillars and the Trees".

"Walking Treemonoids" Johnson corrected him to Scott's surprise.

"Very well, walking Treemonoids. Stay put, this is an order. To all of you".

Silence.

"Yes sir". Was the heartless response from the planet's surface.

"Do not worry, lad. We will find them. Montgomery out".

####

How could she miss it before? It was as plain as the sun from Earth's surface on a cloudless day. It was right in front of her; did she have to be hospitalized to see it?

This new piece of information could explain a lot about the planet's history. She had to contact the Captain and let him know. Surely, James T Kirk would know what to do with this piece of information.

Li Ann made sure that Nurse Chapel was not going to leave her office and then made her way to the Enterprise bridge.

####

"We should go after them!" Tom's voice increased a pitch. "This is what our captain would have done for us. Are we to offer less of our devotion than he would offer for us?"

"This is all good, Tom. But you are scared. You do not really wish to join them in the unknown" Annagret was right and Tom hated her for that. He wished to be heroic and good like their Captain; a part of himself worried he would disappoint Li Ann if he took no action.

"We will gather more data as requested" Hikaru broke in with the authority of the highest-ranking officer present. "But fear not," he made a small pause and looked Tom in the eye, and the younger man realised he is not the only one worrying about them. "If we have a tactical advantage in going through the portal and retrieve them, we will do it".

Their small team broke off and started working on the list the officer's on board the Enterprise had compiled for them. Tom felt anxious and lonely; he wished Li Ann was there. She was not opposed to bantering, in contrast to Lt Opal who was a silent rock. She rebuffed with silence all his tries to alleviate his worry with small talk, until she decided to devastate him with one comment.

"If you didn't talk and did your job, Dr Chang would not have been hurt".

Her accusation hit him like a moving train. The momentary shock she caused him was replaced by a confused mix of love, extreme guilt, anger, shame, pain and warmth at the remembrance of her smile. What could he say when he wished he had done something else?

"Lt Opal, I think you will be of more use to Mr Sulu than Mr Johnson. Right now, we have not split our teams in such a way as to broaden our specialities and increase our efficiency". Annagret had materialised out of thin air.

Opal left them without a word, leaving him with the empath. Annagret pated him briefly on top of his head, pairing it with a 'there-there', which surprisingly made him smile.

"Don't worry, I am sure Li Ann is not blaming you".

"How can you be so sure?" He wanted to believe her but doubt and guilt gnawed at him.

"I know her. She knows better than anyone that none of us is perfect or a glossy superhero." She tried to reassure him with a smile. "Anyway, you would know already if she was disappointed by your actions. She would have told you".

Tom remembered the easiness she joked with him, the fact that she had not put any blame on him while talking with Dr McCoy. It was an accident, and all had treated it as one. Relief washed over him; whatever his misstep, at least she would talk to him again. He wished he could forgive himself so easily...

Annagret squished his arm, and her smile broadened, becoming almost wicked. "Now, if you truly wish to impress Li Ann, you have to start compiling those datasets. Li Ann loves a well organised dataset". The empath winked at him.


	7. Through the Portal

"Jim, are you alright?" Bones was standing above Jim, shaking him lightly. The Captain, however, was not inclined to open his eyes; he lay still on the ground. Was he alive? Judging of the grumpiness and low muttering of Bones while scanning Jim's vital signs, Spock surmised that he cannot be in an awful situation. The doctor was grumpy, whiny and a tiny bit too emotional for the Vulcan's taste, but he had the best bedside manner he had ever seen on a medical officer. He tackled all medical situations with the amount of seriousness they deserved.

Trusting that Leonard could manage well enough Jim's condition, he surveyed their new environment. On a first glance, it seemed as if they had not moved at all, they were in a meadow in the middle of the forest. Almost the same, but not quite. The untrained eye would not spot that the trees on the periphery were not the same trees, even though they were the same species or that the grass was also not the same. The most obvious thing missing where the tracks of the walking Treemonoids. Spock noticed another huge difference: the grass was cut. Someone had spent time taking care of the height of the grass.

In fact, Spock realised that someone was taking care of the forest around them as well. Someone had thought to take all the necessary precautions to prevent a fire. Someone had taken the precaution to create a path.

Spock moved towards the path, in order to investigate it further as Jim groaned on his spot. Spock sighed with relief, he always ended up worrying for Jim, even when Bones took care of him.

"Where are we?" Jim rubbed his forehead.

"We went through a portal, I believe. Hold still, Jim".

"Indeed," Spock confirmed from the meadow edge. "We went through a portal that the good doctor managed to activate".

"If you claim it was my fault,"

"…then he is right" Jim finished the sentence for him. "But it matters not". He stood up and looked around. "Where is the rest of the away team?"

"They were outside the range of the portal. They were left in our original dimension. I would say that the impact of the portal is at a maximum of 5 meters."

"Oh my, Dr McCoy. It seems that you are turning into a science officer. Should I be worried about my position as first science officer?" Spock could never resist teasing Bones; all his emotions came plain on his face for all the world to see. Right now, the mild excitement was replaced by a red angry frown.

"Do you say I am wrong?"

"Would I be worried about my post if you were wrong?"

"Gentlemen, let us focus on the tasks at hand". Jim was now standing behind Spock. "Did you try to contact the Enterprise?"

"Yes, Captain. We have no contact".

Jim sighed and then sniffed. "It smells earthly. The smell you get from an area where it had just rained".

"That would be the mud on this path".

"There are no other signs of rain however. The plants look too dry". Bones was now standing at the other side of Spock.

"Once more, a very accurate assessment, Doctor". Spock scanned the vegetation. "The plants seem to be under drought stress and the soil's water content is too low, at least in comparison to Earth standards. Except for the soil covering the path ahead of us, which is soaked through".

"What do you imply, Mr Spock?"

"Captain, I think we just found our lost humanoid civilization".

"Well done, Mr Spock" Jim patted him on his back. The frown that had crept into his face turned into the infamous glint of mischief. "Since we have a path right below our feet" he pointed at the earth just below him in a very dramatic gesture that never fails to cause Spock to smile "I propose that we follow it. What do you say gentlemen?"

"Do I have another choice?" Bones sounded dejected.

"No."

"Then lead the way".

Onwards they went, away from the pavilion and into the forest. The way was wide; all three of them could walk side by side and another three people could be added without feeling cramped. It remained wet and clean of rocks or bark, in fact it looked as if it had been recently raked and smoothed. Spock did not manage to obtain any affirmation for the nature of the portal; were they transported across realities, time, space? There was no evidence pointing directly to any of the outcomes, so Spock could not get any direct conclusion. Frustration rose inside him, he wished to know the answers.

However, as it often was the case, he was not able to obtain them at the moment he wished to. Jim would brush it away, but Spock always desired to perform in top form for him. A look at his calmer friends eased his frustration to a point of inner stability.

"Do you pick up any readings of walking Treemonoids?" Jim asked both of his officers.

"I get a signal of a large group of them, just ahead of us, Captain. However, it will take is another 56 mins and 21 secs to reach them" McCoy rolled his eyes at Spock's prediction and Jim had the face which roughly translated to: are you mocking me or are you serious?

Spock's mood lightened a bit.

"Can you trace Humanoids?"

Both him and McCoy fidgeted a bit with their tricorders, trying to pick out a clear signal. "I am afraid it is not easy to tell apart from so far. The local humanoids physiology could be distinct enough that we cannot use the typical signals to identify them" Leonard's face became preoccupied.

"Or they are not there" Spock had to prepare Jim for that outcome. It was very probable they have gone extinct, no matter what the Captain wishes.

"Or maybe the signal is too... Swamped by the Walking Treemonoids to be to tell. We shall wait and see".

Jim led the way for the next 56 mins, till they reached a second clearing.

**AN: Reviews are always welcome!**


	8. Looking for the Captain

USS Enterprise was on yellow alert. The led lights blinked on and off in along the corridors, as if they were bored. They signalled: something is wrong, but has not been terribly bad yet, so just go on with your lives, I guess. They seemed to mock the red alert lights that had gone off in Li Ann's head.

Do you really need to worry that much? They told her as she limbed through the corridors and towards the bridge.

Well, yes, she answered in her head. I missed what could have been the key to the mystery.

"Mr Scott, permission to come on the bridge" she asked breathlessly.

"Good god, lass" Mr Scott raised from the Captain's chair and moved towards her. "Should you not be in sick bay?" He led her towards Lt Uhura's chair. She had just gotten up to let Li Ann occupy it. "You look ready to faint!"

Li Ann felt for the first time the fatigue, anxiety had kept her going. "I have to tell you something, Mr Scott! And we have to relay it to the Captain!"

She noticed Uhura's grave expression, Mr Scott's face going blank and professional, but what tipped her off towards the right conclusion was Ensign's Chekov's stupefied face from the helm. His raised eyebrow almost left his head and returned to Russia.

Oh, no. The yellow alert... Why did they have a yellow alert? "What is wrong? Did something happen to the Captain?" And Tom?

"The stone pillars are a portal. Dr McCoy managed to activate them by accident. He, the Captain and Spock went through".

"There is nothing to worry about" Lt Uhura said calmly. "We are helping the rest of the away team investigate the portal".

"Aye, we have been testing to see whether it has some secret mechanism, there should be a way to be activated. There should be a button somewhere..." Mr Scott's voice trailed as he turned around to view the screen. Li Ann looked at it as well. There was a map of the meadow on one corner; the position of the pillars was marked with a black cross and the live location of the away team was shown in colourful dots corresponding to the divisions. A dot named Mr Johnson indicated that Tom was helping Annagret with her theories of the pillars; they were closest of all to them.

On another part of the screen telecommunications maps of the system were being shown. Li Ann frown at its sight, and Uhura, following her gaze, offered an explanation. "We have determined that it is a spatial portal; Annagret believes its range is not too wide, maximum distance being the solar system we currently in. For that reason, I am monitoring all subspace frequencies and universe noise to pick up the Captain's signal".

Li Ann realised she obstructed Lt Uhura's work and moved to get up, all the while muttering apologies. Uhura placed her hand firmly on her shoulder and forced to stay put. "I will call Nurse Chapel to let her know you are here".

Li Ann's attention had already shifted to the diagram taking up most of the screen. For a moment she was confused, but the great attention Mr Scott placed on it, helped her see it through his eyes: it was a diagram of the stone pillar's broken down to parameters the Chief Engineer could work with.

"Are those the stone pillars? Sir?"

"Ai doctor. We are trying to figure out what triggered their activation. We examined electromagnetic fields, subatomic fluctuations, mechanical stimuli". Mr Scott sounded frustrated, even though he tried to remaine positive. "As Mr Spock would have said: it is only logical that it has a switch. It is a sophisticated machine after all".

"Did you try biochemical stimuli?"

"Like what?"

"Dr McCoy touched the pillars... Maybe the body temperature, bacteria or some other biological substance triggered it?"

"Good possibilities but no. The biologists on board already examined those options, but we did not solve the problem. Lt Opal even touched them, but they were not reactivated". Mr Scott sat again on the Captain's chair.

Li Ann remembered why she had come there, what she had found and her theory behind the mystery... Maybe they were connected? She sat on an empty workstation and iterated the events of today over in her head...

"Dr Chang, you better tell me what you wanted to tell me before Nurse Chapel comes over" Mr Scott leaned over one side of the chair to see her better. "Otherwise your little escapade was for nought".

"I realised that none of our study subjects was in flowering state".

"And this is important, why?'

"Almost all the plants on the planet are going through their flowering stage right now. Some of them had their reproductive organs, meaning the flowers, some had produced seeds already and all of them had in place biochemical and molecular mechanisms that were in various stages of alternating between vegetative and reproductive place. However, the walking Treemonoids had none. They could not propagate, not even clonally".

She took a breath and then went on.

"So, my theory is that they migrate for finding the appropriate trigger to transition to their reproductive phase".

Mr Scott seemed thoughtful. "And someone placed the portals there to help them with their migration..."

"Exactly!"

"Could the Trees be the trigger for the portals?" Chekov asked.

"Possibly". She thought for a moment, her forehead creased in concentration. "Most likely is the bark of the aerial roots. It has a unique composition".

"I thought Dr McCoy is a man not a tree" Chekov sounded unconvinced.

"Oh! He must have had residual bark on him!" Li Ann beamed with excitement and started pacing the room to contain it. "He helped the rest to free me from bellow the Treemonoid, and then treated me! While Lt Opal never encountered one! I bet that Tom... Ermmm Mr Johnson", she blushed slightly at her slipping and calling him by his first name in front of superior officers "should be able to activate the portal. He hugged the Treemonoid, he should be covered with bark dust".

Mr Scott smiled at her, but he soon frowned again. Li Ann was perplexed. "Mr Scott?"

"Whoever built the portals was ingenious. And they must be at the other side of the portals". He sighed. "I can tell when a machine needs maintenance and that machine" he pointed to the schematic of the portal on screen "Is well oiled and going." He noticed Li Ann's increasingly worrying face and smiled. "I am sure they are no match for James T Kirk".

She smiled the same moment a light blinked on Uhura's map. "Montgomery!" Uhura exclaimed with pride. "I have managed to isolate the Captain's signal! He has been indeed transferred within the solar system" she showed them the coordinates on screen. "However, his signal is weak; possibly the atmospheric composition is reflecting part of it back to the planet surface. I cannot track more accurately his position, however if we could somehow reach the Captain, we could give him instructions on how to amplify the signal for us to track him more effectively".

"Excellent work". Mr Scott had the expression of a man trying to decide, but soon it was the one of a confident decision "Mr Chekov plot a course to the coordinates".

"Yes, sir"

"Enterprise to Mr Sulu".

"Sulu, here."

"We located the Captain in a planet of the solar system. Lt Uhura is transferring to you the coordinates. We will take the Enterprise and go there. On the meantime, you and the rest of the away team follow through the portal. Anyone who has touched the Treemonoids should be able to activate it. We will send you the instructions to override and amplify your signals. This way we will be able to track you and pinpoing your position on the planet surface".

"Alright. If this doesn't work?"

"Then we will beam you up and find another way to track the Captain on that planet".

They magnified on the screen the meadow map. Li Ann saw the little dots approaching the black cross; Johnson dot was closer than all. Her heart thumped against her chest and she hoped her theory was correct. A few moments passed before Mr Sulu's voice was heard over the intercom again.

"Mr Johnson will touch the Portal in 3, 2, 1..." And like that their dots were gone. Lt Uhura replaced the meadow map with the planet she had located the Captain's signal on top. A lot of strings seemed to weakly emanate from its core towards space; one of them was flagged with "Kirk".

"There!" Lt Uhura exclaimed. A brighter signal appeared to emanate from the planet. "This is Annagret's communicator". Her fingers worked fast. "I can get a more accurate location of them on the planet, it will be better once we are closer".

Mr Scott let out a sigh and then a smile. "Mr Chekov, wrap 3. Engage".

As soon as the starship started moving, Nurse Chapel cleared her throat. Li Ann jumped scared, as she had not realised when she had come on the bridge. "Now that we are under way, I will get my patient back to sick bay".

"Alright, but can she work?"

"Mr Scott..." She started threateningly but he raised his hands in defence.

"I do not want to interfere with your field, but she is the only one who specialises in the Treemonoids. Maybe she could work, while under your care, to identify why the Trees have to migrate on another planet? It will be important for the Captain, Mr Spock and Dr McCoy's safety" Mr Scott smiled at her for a good measure, just in case the allusion of less casualties did not work with the Nurse.

"Can you do it while not moving your leg?" Nurse Chapel asked her.

"Well, I will need to analyse all the data we have of the planet for all the abiotic and biotic factors and then compare against the readings of the other planet to detect differences... " Li Ann's voice trailed to a whisper on sight of Nurse Chapel's raised eyebrow. She coloured slightly. "Yes, I can do it without moving my leg".

"Great! I will make sure they will bring more equipment at sick bay. Without turning it into an office!" Mr Scott added quickly before Nurse Chapel's angry expression could turn into a loud protest. "Now off you go! We do not have that much time. Dismissed" he told them with an almost bored expression. Li Ann had to stifle a laugh at him winking behind the Nurse's back.


	9. First Contact

"Jim, I think we found your lost humanoids" Bones mumbled to Jim's ear. All three of them were hidden from their view behind a couple of tall bushes, which made Jim think of the fences people used to build on Earth. They peaked through the foliage to see a group of humanoids busing themselves around a large group of walking Treemonoids.

"What are they doing?" Often Bones was faster in expressing his thoughts than him.

"It would seem they remove excess bark from the walking Treemonoids" Spock followed their movements with great focus, his eyes missed nothing of the process.

Jim turned his gaze to the humanoids once more. The first description of the scene that popped into his head, was a flock of sheep being sheered for their wool. The humanoids were tall with long limbs, in hues of green, brown, yellow. They moved lightly on their feet; their steps no more than a rustling of leaves. As they moved, they blended among the shadows and the background colours. They would have to be alerted to avoid being snuck upon.

"Should we remain hidden?" Bones asked another good question.

"Starfleet knows of the civilization for a long time. However, I suggest avoiding breaking the prime directive. They have never tried to contact anyone outside their planet, even though they obviously possess the technology to do so".

"Maybe, they did not do this, because they are more interested in the matters of their Planet than the Stars" the voice was a soft whisper and yet all three jumped around to face the source. "Maybe the same people looked upon the wonders of the Earth and fell in love with diversity and life, instead of an empty chaos".

Jim had to look up in order to gaze into the humanoid's eyes, only to find two orbs of starlight in it. He realised that he must be staring and tried to be polite instead. "I am sorry if we offended you. I am James Kirk, this is Mr Spock and this is fine man is Dr Leonard McCoy." He introduced his senior officers who inclined politely their heads, in hopes that this was not a moved deemed threatening by the tall Humanoid. "We are..."

"From the stars" they finished his words, long fingers pointing towards the blue sky. "Are you surprised James Kirk? I cannot read your expression".

"Yes, I am".

"Why?" Jim thought he recognised surprise in the alien's voice. Their eyes remained expressionless.

"We have not recorded any attempt of contact between this solar system's civilization and other people outside their natural habitat" Spock started explaining, repeating the computer logs' information. "Have we missed somehow your signal?"

"Have you not understood me?"

Jim raised his hand before Spock could respond. He was not sure he had read the situation properly, but it sounded as if their interrogator was offended. "Mr Spock only wished to clarify whether we have made a mistake, in hopes of subsequently amending and correcting our organisation's error. He always strives for perfection".

Bones huffed but added nothing. Their interrogator seemed to think of his words and their meaning, or maybe they had gotten distracted by the loud noises coming from the clearing.

"Very well. Fear not, Mr Spock, we have not tried to contact anyone from outer space, even though we know you exist. As I said before: we do not wish to explore the stars".

Spock inclined his head "I am sorry, if I offended you. I was only carried away by my need for facts and correct assessments".

"Very well". The Interrogator shifted their attention to Bones. "What about you? Do these two speak for you?"

Bones' face reddened to a worryingly deep red hue. "These two? Jim does speak from time to time for me, as he is my Captain and it is his job to represent us all. But not the Vulcan! I can certainly speak for myself!' he crossed his arms, ready to pick a fight. "We offered your names, and in my land, it is not polite to not offer names back".

"Oh, I must apologise. We often spend years without speaking once our name." They paused in thought. "You can call me Thera".

"Thera, it is nice to meet you" Bones replied and looked to Jim again. He could see it written in his face: Dammit, I am a doctor not a negotiator.

"Thera," Jim attracted their attention to him "Is there someone we could talk to? Someone in charge? We have a lot of questions".

A small pause filled with the quietness one encounters in forests ensued. Whatever the rest of the humanoids were doing was now over.

"Please, follow me" Thera finally said and led them towards the rest of her kind.

####

"I feel as if a large hand dipped into my gut, moved everything about, and then retreated" Tom was laying on the group, arms spread wide, facing the starless sky. Did it even get dark in this solar system? he wondered. The thought however brought him a new wave of nausea.

"Do not fret, Mr Johnson". Mr Sulu was standing above him, scanning his vital signals. "You will be fine in a few minutes. My first time through a portal was a living hell as well".

Tom had no strength to respond, but as promised it came back to him in waves. Soon he realised, that only Mr Sulu seemed to be fine after using the portal; having it done a couple of times with the Captain it obviously helps to build resistance. Annagret seemed to have recovered quite well; she looked a bit pale, but she was able to help the Ensign. Lt Opal was sitting on the ground, but she required no help. Tom was sure she would refuse any help of his.

Was the Enterprise already here? He looked up to the sky, even though logic dictated it was too soon. His heart fluttered at the thought of Li Ann being on the sky, a guardian angel for them all. He smiled a little and got to his feet.

"Excellent, Mr Johnson!" Mr Sulu had noticed his heightened spirits and seemed eager to put him to work. "You all look fitter by the second. I have plotted a possible direction that the Captain and the first officers took. We should follow them as soon as we can; they have a head start of a couple of hours, assuming they did not linger around. Mr Johnson, please try to establish communications with the Enterprise".

"Gladly, sir".

######

Science officer ensigns were always a pain in the ass. Li Ann tried to see the situation on a positive light and in a quite light way; she had been a science officer ensign at some point in her life. However, the one who brought all her equipment to Sickbay was more than an exciting puppy: he was a hyperactive exciting puppy that got into her nerves.

"Dr Chiang, do you need anything else?" Yeoman Rand inquired. She had helped with the transfer of some equipment in sickbay.

"I think I have all I need".

"You think?" Yeoman Rand stared at her intensively. "Are you absolutely sure, you do not need anything else, from whichever part of the ship?" Li Ann was angry for a moment, of course she had asked for all she needed. Before she could retort, she caught the Yeoman staring pointedly to the Ensign chattering in the background. "Now that you mention it... I need a clarification on Dr Edisson's analysis of soil data. He has... Made a note outside of the required by the protocols in section 5, paragraph 22".

Yeoman Rand's eyes flashed with humour. Everyone on board the Enterprise knows that Dr Entisson, was a great chemist, even greater talker and an absolute purist for rules. It would take hours to get the final answer from him. She could see it in her head, first he would complain that all was fine, he would cite the regulation, then he would go and triple check that he did not breach them, he would find no error, so he would complain more and more about everyone else and finally just to be sure, he would explain the minutest detail of the paragraph.

She would not need to deal with the Ensign for at least 2 hours. Li Ann would bet that the Yeoman would make her exit fast from Entisson's office.

"Of course!" Yeoman Rand responded. "You! Ensign!"

"I am called Ensign..."

"...whatever" she interrupted him. "Come with me. A science ensign would be helpful to get the nuisance of details in great depth"

The beaming Ensign followed Yeoman Rand out of the room. Time for her to concentrate on the planets' environments.

####

"Captain, we have arrived at the coordinates" Pavlov Chekov realised that no matter how many times Chief Engineer Scott would sit on that chair, as acting Captain for Captain Kirk, he would never manage to call him Captain without the word getting a bit stuck on his lips. If Mr Scott would confront him directly, Pavlov would find a Russian joke to hide behind. However, Montgomery was relaxed; he never even shown an indication of dissatisfaction and for that reason, Chekov respected him as much as the actual Captain of the Enterprise.

"Thank you, Mr Chekov. Lt Uhura, establish communications with our away team".

"Just a moment, sir". Uhura's fingers flew over the console. "I have contact. Mr Sulu is on the line".

"Mr Sulu! Are you all alright, lad?"

"Yes, Captain" Hikaru's voice came through the bridge's intercom, a bit distorted but the feeling of the speaker being inside the room was not diminished. Chekov hated that; it was false. "We all went safely through the portal, and we are tracking the Captain. Permission, sir, to beam aboard Lt Opal and Ensign Pavlopoulos".

"I thought you were all right?" Scott was better with machines and got overly anxious when someone got hurt. He could not fix people.

"Yes, they just suffer nausea from the portal. Nothing uncommon, sir".

A small pause. "Permission granted. We will keep track from here. If we find it safer, we will beam you aboard. Scott out".

So, they would just wait and watch. Great. Chekov was already bored.


	10. Chief Phera

The humanoid's metropolis awed Jim. During all their travels across the galaxy, it was rare to find cultures with enough technological advancement to explore the stars, but instead they revered the Earth, who lived in harmony and their whole existence seemed to spring organically from nature. For a while, it was almost impossible for him to pick out the houses among the treetops, but soon he recognised them against the tree light. The silent avenue was not so lifeless as he thought on first glance; it was bursting with people, animals and a lot of different walking plants, going about their ways in a serene way.

"Jim, it seems that there are more walking members of the plant kingdom. Fascinating". Spock looked around and observed, his keen eyes dissecting all he could. None of them tried to scan the new life forms, however, in order not to offend Thera.

"Yes, Mr Spock" Thera said from the front of their small procession. Jim was pleasantly surprised once he realised she was their only escort. He thought that she trusted them. Or, as Bones put it silently, she knew she could crush their skulls and needed no help for that.

Well, Bones would be Bones. He will always assume that everyone is out to kill him and hurt his crew, he would assess every situation put in front of him in broken skulls, hyposprays used and beds on sickbay. Jim did not fault him, after all that was his role as Head Medical Officer of his ship: to take care of the crew's help. However, in most negotiations, good will and faith matters and, as Captain, he has to demonstrate those principles, and keep his medical officer close at hand to remind him not too show too much will or too much faith.

"If I may inquire," Mr Spock asked as politely as he could, "how many plant species that can walk are present in your Capital?"

"Twelve hundred, more or less" Thera again did not stop. "However, the ones you encountered on the previous planet are the ones my ancestors met for the first time and thus they are our most precious friends".

"Friends?" Bones asked. "Are you Tree huggers?"

"What, Dr McCoy wishes to know" Jim intervened, but had to make a small pause to make sure he drew Thera's attention. "...is if you can connect to them the way you connect with other of your kind".

"Of course, we can. Can you not?" Thera had an expression which indicated confusion. "I will let the Chief explain, we are almost there".

Their Chief lived on top of a large tree with wide leaves that rustled in the breeze. Its bark and roots were ancient and embed on the rock bend around it; on more than one occasion the tree roots had broken up pieces of rock, which were not removed. The silent movement of the leaves echoed around him, but on second thought it might have been the echoes of its inhabitants' voices. Thera led them to a vine ladder, and they started climbing up the tree. Jim remembered the oak tree he climbed once as a young boy during one of their vacation trips. This tree was a hundred times bigger and more ancient than the oak trees he was used from before. It had seemed huge to him, but his father had laughed: it is too young Jim, he had said. Like you are.

On top of the ancient, alien oak, no oak-like, Spock had said he had to keep the proper addressing code, they found a platform built among the leaves. The leaves were colourful, whether by design he could not tell. The effect they caused was magical. The sun rays were broken into a thousand rays of colour, sparkling among them and shifting with the slightest breeze. On the floor sat another being, who looked like Thera. Jim could discern by the body language that this was the Chief. However, he could not distinguish the chief from Thera.

Spock would argue it is logical. They were not yet accustomed to them, so it would take time to learn what traits differentiate them as individuals. Probably, the Chief had the same problem as they had.

Thera leaned over to the Chief and whispered. Soon a nod and a move of his hand caused her to back away. The large black eyes studied them in silence. "Thank you, Thera. I will talk to the Space People alone".

Bones eyebrow shot up in disagreement, which he refrained from showing it verbally as Thera and three more guardians left the platform. He had obviously not seen them hidden among the dancing leaves and the resulting light play.

"You are Captain James T Kirk, Dr McCoy and Mr Spock" he pointed to one of them with his long finger as he enunciated the names. The Chief tasted them in his mouth before call out the next, as if in an attempt to understand the character of the owner.

"No quite sir," Spock spoke. "I am Mr Spock and this is Dr McCoy. It will be easy to remember the grumpy little one as the good doctor".

"Spock..." Bones warned his friend, while Kirk sighed.

"The little grumpy one... I can see you are smaller than the other two and this will suffice. I am afraid it is too soon for me to read your expressions or distinguish you another way. Please take a seat".

All three of them sat crossed legged and observed the Chief. Calm and precise was his face; no extra movement was apparent to them. For a while Jim and the Chief got each other's measure. Was it good, was it bad? Jim could not decide. When he reached the point of fidgeting, the Chief spoke.

"I am Chief Phera. Thera is child of my blood. You are Captain James T Kirk, of the stars".

"Not the stars, this honour does not belong to me, only to some men who do not deserve it" a small pause trying to hold back his tongue; he was still upset with the latest added Directive. "I am just the chief of a Starship. USS Enterprise. Thera... Told me you are aware of our existence".

"We are".

"And you have not tried... to contact us?" Jim was the boy who climbed oak trees and dreamed of being in the midst of stars instead of leaves. The boy he was would have never dreamed of not reaching out for the people among the stars.

"Why would we? We had all we needed here".

"But not here, Chief Phera". Spock spoke up from Jim's left hand side. "I have managed to collect enough readings to determine that even though the life we encountered on our way here is consistent with the life forms we encountered on the original M class planet we transported ourselves on, the abiotic factors are not the same. The only logical conclusion is that this is another planet".

"That is accurate deduction, Mr Spock" Phera's eyes did not move from Jim's face. On the other hand, he might have a wide periscopic vision, which did not require him to turn his head to watch them all at once. "We used to dwell upon the great Roran, but we discovered soon that the place was in danger. The geological activities altered the structure of the Earth too much. It was impossible for us to maintain our cities, or tree flocks".

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Tree flocks?"

"Of course. I was told you have already met our flocks. Thera found you near one of them".

"Of course, Chief. It is just that this would not have been the word, Mr Spock would have used." Jim clarified. "Please continue, and I am sorry for the interruption".

"The Chief before the Chief before me, proposed the resettlement idea. It took a whole generation to come up with a way to transport us all to another place and where. A social upheaval due to despair came over us, until the Chief before me, discovered the Eralmet".

"Is the Eralmet the stone pillars we used to be transported here?"

"Precisely".

"You discovered them? As you built them?" Spock asked, and Jim was sure he found hard to believe that a civilisation without space exploration technology could actually built a portal as the one used to transport them here.

"Ugh, no. We could not have done this. He just... Found them" Spock seemed pacified by the Chief's explanation, his worldview of orderly evolution, unchallenged. "After long debate and long hours of exploration we decided to resettle. It was long and hard. Our resettlement lasted for a whole generation. It finished only a couple of decades ago".

The Chief stopped and got lost in silent contemplation. Jim wanted to sigh, but stopped himself. During the narration, he had thought that all had gone properly, that all had been as it ought to be. But it never is like that. There is always a problem that needs to be solved. The Captain was getting impatient, he wanted to have it out, to see how they could solve anything, but instead he held his tongue, letting the Chief talk. Until now the Chief was friendly and open with them; but how long could this last?

"If you all moved here, why is part of your walking Trees on Roran?" Bones was less patient than Jim.

The Chief turned slightly so that Bones was in the middle of his field of vision. "Enough stories about us. I have been polite to answer Mr Spock's question and to offer some information about us. Now it is your turn to offer information I wish for, and then we can switch again. It is only logical".

"Of course. What would you wish to know, Chief Phera?"

The question was not asked immediately. "I would like to know how come you visited us?"

"Originally, we did not visit this place, but your old planet, Roran. We are members of the Federation of Planets, our mission is to study the universe, act as liaison between planets and so forth. One research station notified us that a planet of Class M, which harboured a civilization pre space exploration capabilities suffered from an unexpected surge of energy. After that, they could not detect signals of the civilization anywhere. They were not sure when this happened; the last readings of the planet were more than 50 years old, but they notified us to explore the system for possible instabilities". Jim paused a bit to allow the Chief to digest the information and ask questions. However, he seemed to have none, so he had to go on.

"On the planet, which you call Roran, members of my crew landed near the Eralmet. There, they encountered the walking Trees, which I presume are part of your flock. We had no previous knowledge of their existence, so we have been trying to study them. Then, by accident, me and my officers passed through the Eralmet and found ourselves... Here".

The Chief contemplated for a while Jim's narration. His eyes unmoving, fixes upon him and his friends. No sound came to them from any direction, except for the speech of the leaves.

"Very well. I am not taking offense on you and your people checking on our civilization; we do the same with all the walking Trees, as you call them, wild or otherwise, as well as with the other walking plants and creatures of our planets".

"Fascinating".

"Indeed, Mr. Spock. You might come to understand why we love our own planet so much and do not wish for the stars."

Spock nodded in a sign of respect for the Chief's opinions, and to Jim's surprise, agreement. Spock always loved the stars above all. "Chief, if I may ask, why was there still part of your flock on your original planet? If the shift of your population was completed two decades ago, how is it possible that we encountered them?"

Did you abandon people and trees behind? Was the implied question.

The Chief sighed and took some moments to find the appropriate words to talk. "We moved everyone here. We moved all our flocks and most of the wild Trees. But it was hard to move all natural life; that task was above us and we fell short to it. We still grieve".

Bones inclined his head, "we understand" his statement was simple and sincere.

"Thank you, Dr McCoy. We always worried that, if we ever met people from the stars, they would not understand us and seek to annihilate us".

"I assure you we wish not to harm you" Jim interjected adding reassurance. "On the contrary, _we_ are in need of your assistance. Since we crossed the portal, we lost communication with out ship and our crew".

"You wish to reconnect with them".

"Would it be possible to use the Eralmet to perform the reverse trip?" Spock questioned with a bit of worry. They had encountered often during their travels one-way portal; thankfully they were usually still onboard the Enterprise and had enough resources to solve this mishap.

The Chief's answer took longer than Jim would have liked to. "Possibly", Bones frowned, and Spock raised an eyebrow. "We have used the Eralmet often to move back to our home planet. You see, we have troubles once we moved here." He paused for a while, contemplating his next words or whether he should tell them. "I suppose there is not harm to tell you. In fact, it is surprising that no one already told you. We trust people with our troubles".

"You can trust us, as well. We are from Earth and Vulcan, both planets where people thrive in each other's protection, friendship and love. Of course, we will listen to you and help you if we can".

"After we migrated here, almost all of us thrived well. Soon, we noticed though that out precious tree flocks did not produce seeds anymore. As you can imagine, the fact distressed us greatly; they are our most valuable co habitants. One idea arose at some point; maybe they miss their own environment. So, we said part of a flock back, where the miracle happened. They produced seeds sometime after they returned to us and we could harvest and sow them to get new plants. From that point on, we have been sending trees back and forth through the Eralmet. For a while it seemed our problem was solved. But then the Eralmet's power began to fail".

"How is that possible, Spock?" Jim was surprised to find out. They had never encountered that kind of error before.

"It is possible, Captain. The exact mechanism of the portals is not known to us. Our tricorders would not have picked up a gradual fail of power. I dare say even the Enterprise might not have reached the conclusion soon enough".

"We, at least, had no idea that its power could diminish over time. I should thank you Mr Spock. So often I blamed my ancestors and co patriots for not wanting to advance more in these technological fields. What could we have done if we knew how to analyse or built those portals ourselves? I lay sleepless dreaming of possibilities presenting themselves if we had harnessed these powers..."

"Please, sir, do not blame yourself. One person hardly can dictate the route of history. Only delusional people harbour these dreams of grandeur" Bones consoled the Chief.

"Thank you, Dr. McCoy. You are a kind man". The Chief spend some time pondering the words before going on. "As I was saying, the Eralmet's power begun to fail. It required increasingly more time to recharge itself for transport between the planets. We had to impose a limit to the transfers; it grieves us that we had to pick the mates for the trees... And still, the problem persisted. Each day now, we are not sure if the portal will be usable again. There is a strict law against passing through without special notice".

"We didn't know, so we cannot be blamed!" Kirk put a restraining hand on Bones' shoulder. They were not to blame, but Jim would have put it in less threatening tone.

"I never claimed that, Dr McCoy. If I held you guilty, then you would have been executed already".

"I apologize, sir". The Chief nodded his head, a sign, which was not accompanied by his people beheading them, so it could only be that they are safe.

"We would still need to join our crew" Jim said.

"I will have to spend some time thinking on the matter. Anyway, it will be night soon and we all need rest and clearer minds".

"If the Chief would allow it, I could perform some data collection. Perhaps I could get some insight about the portals that would help us take an informed decision, if not fix the problem".

The Chief seemed reluctant, so Jim supported his first officer. "Mr Spock is an excellent scientist, and a reasonable man. He would not try to do anything against the rules, or disrespectful. His insight will greatly aid us. I am sure that Dr McCoy will be able to get a general idea of your problem with Trees; he is a medical doctor, specialised on humanoids, but he has a better understanding of physiology than I do. I am merely the Captain".

"A captain that would have no trouble seeking out patterns!" Bones was quick to assign him responsibilities. "It is too bad, Dr Chang is not with us. She has an excellent understanding of nature".

"She must be a remarkable person". The Chief nodded. "Very well, Thera will accompany you, assist you and make sure that you do not do anything that might cause bad feelings in my people. We are not an aggressive species, but we do get offended. I insist however, that you first eat and rest a bit. It is not good for the soul to only work".

His tone was final and none of them had any other choice. In fact, the light among the leaves had become dimmer and as soon as they reached the foot of the tree, they realised the day was almost gone. The first star was visible among the tree tops.

* * *

AN: Sorry, life got into the way and I could not post this one in time! Hopefully, now I will be able to keep posting as promised. As always, comments are always welcome. :D


	11. Reunion

The Enterprise was in orbit around the planet. Its screen tracked the progress of their away team; they had agreed it was best they prepared to spend the night on the planet surface. Mainly, they wished to make sure that they would not miss a chance to reunite with the Captain and his Officers. However, as soon as they beamed up Lt Opal and Ensign Pavlopoulos, they encountered another problem. The atmospheric composition that interfered with communications, interfered with the transporter signal. It seemed to drain all its available power and causing malfunctions. Scott was glad it happened after they had transferred apiece the crew members.

"Sulu to Enterprise. We are picking up a signal, someone or something is approaching us. Do you confirm? We have no visual".

Scotty sighed, he was tired. Too tired for any of this. Probably, he should have been resting already, but he was left with no chance to go to his room. Oh, how he wished to read his engineer journal or pay a visit to the engineering department. "Lt Arek tells me that... Humanoid forms are approaching you".

"We still have no visual".

"Mr Sulu they are converging towards your position. I will beam you onboard".

Chatter from Sulu's communicator reached them before they could hear him clear again. "Negative, Enterprise. Mr Johnson is right; we should make contact".

Maybe the Captain has made contact with them. Aye, it would fit his style. "Alright. Please notify us as soon as one thing goes South. We will have your signal locked".

#####

The sickbay was silent, except for the health monitors and Li Ann's equipment, which meant sickbay was only devoid of human activity. It was so funny that they always defined silence based on human parameter. If no human made its presence known, then it was silent. It never mattered how much anything else tried to make its presence felt, they had no impact. It was silent.

Li Ann decided to follow Nurse Chapel's aggressive insertion of authority and stop working for a couple of hours. She knew that Mr Spock could work triple shifts efficiently, but he was Vulcan and she was not. Moreover, she was sick. She had to rest to reach peak efficiency again.

She could not afford missing even a small detail and thus ruin any help she could be in locating the Captain. Or maybe she would oversee something, which could cause Tom to get hurt.

No, there was no way this would happen. She tried to nap, but her mind was full of Tom in various dangerous situations. Why did he have to be in her mind like that?

#####

The Chief was kind enough to ask if they felt comfortable among the treetops; Bones was fast enough to answer 'no' and the result was them among the grass. The small room seemed to be formed by old roots, which were excavated from the earth. Still, the safety he felt in there compensated for Spock's scathing remarks.

Bones was not very surprised when Thera came inside the room, looking a bit upset. Or at least, Bones would have called the expression on Thera's face 'worried', if it was a human face.

"We have some member of your crews, James T Kirk". Behind the huge Tree Hugger came in Annagret, Tom and Hikaru. Tom looked a little pale, prompting Leonard to pull out his tricorder and scan him. Yes, he had what he liked to call _the portal sickness_.

Oh fuck, he thought. He looked up from his tricorder readings to catch the last part of Thera's words.

"through the Eralmet, checking out our forest, at night".

Was it only Leonard's feeling that Thera was upset? In fact, the doctor was not surprised of the locals being mad that they abused the portal's power. It was their only connection to their home world and they were close to lose it forever.

"Passing through the Eralmet is the obvious solution here". Mr Spock's comment was dry, factual and infuriating.

"Yes, we have established that, Mr Spock" Jim got hold of the discussion. "However, they did nothing worth condemnation. My crew had no previous knowledge of the Eralmet's problems".

Thera looked over Jim in the long, silent manner, which Leonard came to recognise as their signature look. In the end, Jim's explanation was accepted. "Fine. Make sure though that no more crew members go through the portal".

"We have been trying to contact the ship, without success, so far". Spock kept infuriating Thera.

"I can help with that" Mr Sulu explained to them Uhura's modifications to the communicator. Annagret and Tom got hold of their communicators and altered them as per Uhura's instructions. Jim received hiss own first, and requested a channel to Enterprise under Thera's watchful eye.

"Kirk to Enterprise".

"Scott, here. It's good to hear you Captain!" Montgomery sounded mostly relieved, surelly he already imagined all the chores he could get working on while back at engineering. "I bet Mr Sulu was brought to you after all".

"Yes, Scotty. Is everything alright on board?"

"Aye, Captain. Should we beam you up? We are done with the transporter modifications".

"No, not yet Mr Scott. We have business to complete here". Thera's long finger's twitched nervously. Jim stared at them before talking to Scotty again. "It is of great importance that no one else tries to use the Portals. There are some problems".

"What problems Captain?" Scott was above all an engineer.

"Mr Spock will fill you in, I believe we will need the Ship's computer. Make sure my order will be transferred".

"No problem, captain. We are all onboard, orbiting the Planet".

Under Thera's watchful eye, they exchanged news. Uhura informed them of the planet's atmosphere and the changes she made to locate their signal; Scott had a lengthy discussion with Spock about the mechanism of the Eralmet, while Kirk informed them of the nature of their problem. Thera's companions had left. One of them got Leonard's attention; they turned around to have a last long lingering look at Enterprise's away team. Did they calculate how strong they were? How fragile?

Bones wished he could read minds, but there was someone with an ability close to that. Annagret was staring out of the door, discretely scanning and collecting data. Leonard moved closer to her, as Hikaru narrated his part of the story.

"Lieutenant, I can see now why Spock prefers you on his team" he pointed with his eyes towards the tricorder. The empath read properly his mood and smiled at him.

"I thought that maybe I can get valuable information for Li Ann. She managed to get permission to work from sickbay".

"Did she now!" Leonard raised his eyebrows. "She should give me tips to get my own way around Nurse Chapel then".

Annagret chuckled, she always thought it hilarious that Chapel was domineering over the head Medical officer. "What is your problem, doctor?"

From her hushed tone Leonard knew that she could tell he had something worrying him. "Jim, cannot ask you to do it, now, but I am not the head diplomat" he took a step closer to her. "I cannot read the locals... Can you?"

"You are worried they are aggressive towards us".

Bones nodded once affirmative. "So, what do you feel?"

Annagret paused for a moment. "I perceive calmness, in general. People are in harmony here" her forehead creased a bit. "There are other emotions. Fear, anger and anxiety, buried within people. The people who brought us here had a lot of anger towards us. I failed to see the real reason behind their negative animosity; I believed it to be the usual fear of the unknown. Now I am saddened we went through the portal"

"Do not be. There was no way to know beforehand. Maybe, if we had not been through, the Enterprise's computer would have caught the anomaly. However, in that case we would not have been through and we would have not encountered them". Bones saw the Lieutenant relaxing a bit, she even allowed a smile to light up her face. "What about Thera?"

"You should not worry ... I do not feel strong negative feelings. Thera was upset, but I believe it was the result of their companions. There are other persons to worry about here". Leonard knew she was referring to the same person who had caught his attention.


	12. Looking for solutions

"Wake up" Li Ann was brought out of her slumber by Chapel. "The away team has been reunited with our Captain! I am not sure of the exact situation, but I think your presence will be required soon".

"Is everyone alright?" Li Ann felt like dead, she got up and tried to wake up by forcing her body to move around.

"Yes. Annagret even thought to send you more data!" The Nurse's false enthusiastic tone showed her disapproval.

"Amazing!" Li Ann was sure that the data her new friend so thoughtfully collected for her, while it was not part of her responsibilities during the field trip, will be useful. She had a strong working theory about the tree migration and the new environmental data could help to confirm it.

Christine rolled her eyes but knew better than to question a science officer on whether new data are amazing or not.

#####

Annagret was pleasantly surprised of how calm chief Phera was. The Chief oozed the calm reality she would expect of a tree; serenity and harmony. Even a Vulcan would envy the Chief; they prized emotionless people, but they had never really achieved the sense of equilibrium this humanoid possessed.

The Chief had fed them all oat meals, fruit, honey mead and a small white fish. Dr McCoy had decreed that the metabolism of the all the species present was similar enough to allow them to share food. She was glad, as this was the best meal she had had in a while.

Kirk was more relaxed and less worried since the moment he got reunited with the rest of his crew. Also, he seemed to like the Chief and respect the humanoids' way of life; he had set his soul in helping them. Annagret believed that Phera and Thera, at least, had an intuition of the Captain's mental state. This would explain the hospitality and lack of suspicion towards them. Also, it was clear as day to anyone that everyone followed Kirk's lead; so, they showed no sign of distrust towards the rest of them.

The Captain was calling the Enterprise. Mr Spock had been annoyed to not work on the problem of the Eralmet anymore. However, the Captain made it clear he had to attend the dinner. The Enterprise had a good team of science officers, who could work on it. It was Dr McCoy who convinced him though; he had claimed that there was no need to worry of their efficiency, unless he sucked as a mentor and thus Spock's science team would fail.

"Kirk to Enterprise".

"Scott here. How can I help you, Captain?"

"I am currently with Chief Phera. We need an update on your progress with understanding the Eralmet's problem".

"Oh, the portals are amazing, sir!" Annagret could imagine the chief engineer's excitement. "Based on the scans provided by Lt Hass and Mr Spock, we managed to understand the source of energy. It looks to be solar based, sir. Not too many machines are so efficient based on so ancient mode of energy consumption!".

"Yes, Mr Scott," the Captain cut his chief engineer before he could go on a lengthy technical monologue. "Why are they failing, though?"

"I was getting to it, sir." He did not sound hurt, but Annagret knew that Mr Scott was always disappointed when someone had no interest in the minutest details of machines. "Even though the solar energy is efficient, it needs recharging. It seems, that whoever placed the portals on the two planets they had let them charge fully. They have, what we used to call batteries. Now they are rechargeable, however, the atmospheric composition of the second planet causes the system to fail".

"How so?" Thera asked.

"It seems the atmosphere does not allow all the sun rays to cross, having lower intensity and energy. So, it is not easy to recharge. Often use of the portals, depletes its reserves and requires each time more and more time to recharge".

"That sounds more than plausible, Captain" Spock was already calculating in his mind the time is requires to recharge. "I would add that the distance to the sun, which is longer than between the original planet and here, adds to the problem. It seems that need 8.467 times longer".

"That is our estimate as well, Captain. We run the models to confirm this but need more time to be ready".

A tall local entered the room. For a moment Annagret just wondered what their name was; maybe they do not have one. She would have ignored the new addition to their group, if not for Thera's emotional reaction. The Chief's offspring felt agitated, surprised, angry and afraid. The short dialogue was spoken in whispers, inaudible to any of her crew. For a moment indecision and urgency ruled to pair, but soon the specific type of confidence which comes once a course of action is decided upon prevailed. They left the conference room, with Annagret's eyes following them.

"Lt. Haas", the Captain's voice was sharp. "Did we bore you?".

"No, Captain. Sorry, sir".

"Mr Spock was saying that you could assist him with running the experiments on field".

"As I mentioned to the Captain and the Chief, you are an accurate and efficient field experimental scientist".

"Yes, sir. I have worked with on site design of satellite modifications".

"Excellent, please be informed of what we need to do".

Kirk gave her a last long look before turning away. She wondered if the rest interpreted his look as a reprimand towards her. In fact, most of the crew would interpret as a knew however that the Captain sensed her discomfort and worry, and that he tried to decipher the problem before it was brought to him.

"Now, Lt Uhura, please connect us with Dr Chang. She should be able to provide us with a scientific opinion on the herd's problem". Kirk paused and as an afterthought he addressed the Chief. "Dr Li Ann Chang has devoted her life in studying plant parallel evolution between planetary systems. Her knowledge of how the environment can impact evolution should be helpful to understand the root of the problem and how we could possibly address it".

The Chief had the closest expression to a smile Annagret had seen on one of their faces till now. "Finally, someone on your crew who will understand us and I will understand them" his words of satisfaction matched his feelings.

"Captain Kirk? Chang, here, reporting for duty". Annagret knew that her friend was nervous in her interactions with the Captain. No empathic skills were needed. She made a mental note to retell the excellent introduction the Captain gave about her.

"Dr Chang. The Chief is here with me. I presume you are aware of their problem of their Tree Flocks?"

"Yes, Captain". A short unsure pause. "I have reached the same conclusion about their inability to flower independently. It is curious, all else on the planet were flowering. Except our Trees" Annagret had to stifle a laugh. She got so excited once she started talking about evolution. Tom had a dreamlike expression on his face, while Hikaru shared her mirth. Spock's respect for her friend's knowledge sobered her a bit. "I contrasted the environment between the two planets, and I have a good theory why they are incapable of reproducing. According to the data Lt Haas has sent me from the planet, and the atmospheric data Lt Uhura and the communications team has collected, I am sure the photoperiodic pathway is not functioning properly".

Li Ann let her comment sink. Probably only Mr Spock knew what she meant, and this only because he had encyclopaedic knowledge of the weirdest things. Annagret was surprised from the source of inquiry.

"It would make sense, Jim" Leonard seemed excited. "The daylength is vastly different here, same for night length. Also, the blue, red and far red ratios must be extremely skewed beyond of what the Trees require for proper survival. In fact, I would not be surprised if this has not affected the humanoids".

"We have had a fair share of health problems" the Chief reaffirmed.

"However, what about the rest of the pathways?" Bones went on, surprisingly passing over health problems. "Are they not functioning?"

"Other pathways?" Kirk asked.

"Dr McCoy is referring to the Earth plants flowering pathways. On our planet, Captain, plants are induced to flower through five different pathways: the photoperiodic, vernalization, gibberellin, aging and autonomous pathways. They are induced by different factors but in the end, they control the expression of a handful core genes, which are directly responsible for flowering". Li Ann explained in as short manner as she could. Kirk liked these types of reports. "However, not all of them exist in all planetary systems. For instance, on Vulcan, only two exist, while on Betazoid seven different pathways exist, with only one similar to Earth like pathway. Thus far I have found no evidence of the existence of another one except the equivalent of photoperiodic pathway".

The Chief nodded. "We have no evidence that our Trees respond to anything else but light fractions".

"Do you think we can fix the problem?" Kirk asked.

"I thought Mr Scott was fixing that by fixing the Eralmet", Bones seemed surprised.

"The Captain is right. It is better to not have the whole society's smooth existence hanging upon a pair of portals. It is only logical to cultivate as many alternative solutions as we can" Spock sassed his friend.

"Perhaps, we can design special lamps that emit the correct ratio of light. Then, the Chief's people can expose their flocks to the light for as long as they have too in the appropriate times".

"If you teach us, we could produce them. However, this task will be enormous. I do not believe we could produce enough of them fast enough" the Chief was melancholic. There a deep wish for this problem to be solved fast.

"This is why we will fix the portal" Kirk said. "Your people can use them to move Trees back and forth, for as long as needed. Then you can start producing the lamps so as not to have to transport all of them at once".

"I estimate that your people, Chief, should be able to establish a working balance between the two methods in only a couple of years. I would urge you to maintain both manners of inducing flowering to your Trees; as a safety precaution".

The Chief reacted not for a while. "This would be logical".

"Captain, if I may say something more?" Li Ann's voice was hesitant via the communicator.

"Go ahead, Dr Chang".

"We could genetically modify the Trees to produce a variant of the main genes involved in sensing the light ratios. We could design the genes thus, so they are functional in the specific light conditions. Of course, we would have to induce the modification in the germline to be inherited and the locals will have to be very strict with their plant breeding schemes".

"In the long run, it might be the most efficient solution" Spock said. "It would eliminate the problem of many crop species: their dependency upon the farmer for survival. That way, Chief, even after your people are gone, the walking Treemonoids will survive".

The Chief was not too happy about the last solution, it caused him apprehension. "We do not breed our flocks. We are care givers. This would be against our beliefs about our place in nature".

"And yet you got them away from their natural environment in order to care for them properly" Kirk was getting tired of inaction, there was too much discussion till now. "Was it not against your place in nature to bring them here in the first place?"

Shame and a bit of anger was what the Chief felt now, but none of it showed on the face. "Very well, I will consider all your plans. I have to present them to my Council before we decide upon further course". The Chief stood up and the rest in the room followed.

"Do not take too long. We are willing to help you for as long as we can. However, we have other duties to attend to".

"I understand. Please rest for the evening". Annagret had not realised that Thera had joined them again. Thera still felt worried but was too cautious to reveal anything.

"We will keep working on the solutions till you decide which ones to maintain".

"Thank you, Captain. Please, excuse us". Phera and Thera exited the room.


	13. Night Stroll

The Enterprise crew was left seemingly alone at the dinner table, but Tom knew this was not the case. He would be an awful security officer if he had not noticed the presence of the humanoid guards perched on top of the branches.

"Dr Chang, what do you need to develop a proposal for genetic modifications?" The Captain addressed Li Ann through the communicator.

"I would need to study the genes, RNA and proteins of this planet's Treemonoids. Preferably trees that look like our target species and are both in flowering and non flowering state".

"Captain, I believe I can handle this task on behalf of Dr Chang" Sulu offered. "I can identify trees, and she can analyse the data I collect on her behalf on board the Ship".

"Yes... That way, the Doctor will not be harmed again on the field".

Li Ann mumbled something, which Tom did not hear. Did she get upset with the Captain's comment? He felt bad about her, it was not her fault. If it was anyone's fault, it was his.

"Lt Haas and Mr Scott will work on the Eralmet, Mr Sulu will collect data for Dr Chang to see of she can get a good candidate gene for genetic modification and Mr Spock with Dr McCoy can work on the lamps. I understand that Bones has a good understanding of the physiology involved, so he should be enough to help you, Spock" the Captain summarised the situation. "Go about your tasks. I want a moment with you, Lt Haas, before you go on with Mr Scott".

Tom realised that he was not assigned anything to do. Having no other duties, he reverted to the main duty a redshirt would perform during an away mission: secure the Captain's safety. He remained discreetly close to the Captain conferring with Annagret, while everyone else left their dining area.

"I do not like the news, but I am not surprised. Thank you, Lt Haas. Me and Mr Johnson will investigate it".

Annagret left the room silently, leaving him alone with the Captain. "Mr Johnson, it seems it is the two of us..." He paused and looked towards the guards who were still perched upon the tree. "...and the guards. Let's have a look at the locals' town, shall we not?"

The two of them headed to the bottom of the huge trees. Tom could mostly feel rather than perceiving their guards following them. They moved slowly and airily; they were one with their environment. Suddenly, Tom felt heavy, clumsy and incompetent. His movements were not graceful or harmonious. How could he protect the Captain if he was so obvious about it? He tried to calm his heartbeat and match the walking rhythm of their guards. It was a hard task; Kirk had a destination in mind, and he moved fast, seemingly uncaring of any potential danger around him.

The City was silent, bathed in starlight. In the shadows between the trees, locals were visible from time to time. They all observed them. They all took care to look at them, carefully. Were they assessing them? Were they simply curious? He could not tell. It was hard to read the expression of alien people, let alone of some who looked more like their trees than humanoids.

He made a mental note to ask Li Ann to explain were the line between Treemonoids and Humanoids was drawn for the inhabitants of this particular planet.

"Captain, where are we going to?"

"Are you tired, Mr Johnson?"

"No".

A pause that lasted too long in his opinion followed. "We are just taking a stroll".

"Why, if I may ask?"

"You may not". The severe tone could only be interpreted as trouble. But for whom? What had Annagret told to the Captain?

They walked a bit more, and Tom lost sense of time. At the other hand, the more they proceeded, the more insecure he felt. The peaceful quietness felt a mask, the calm surface of a very tremulous depth. His hair on the back of his neck prickled, as he realised a specific change.

"Captain," Tom whispered moving a bit closer to his Captain. "Our guards... are not following us".

"Do not pull out your phaser yet, Mr Johnson" Kirk's words caused Tom to stop halfway to drawing his weapon. "Set it to stan".

They moved a bit slower now, more care in each step. Kirk on the lead and Tom a bit behind him. Was it normal for this City to be so devoid of life that the simply leaf movement atop the trees felt as if a storm was coming?

At first, Tom felt their attack, and then he perceived the falling figures. They fell from the branches above them. They were five very large humanoids and for the first time Tom could read their feelings.

Anger.

They did not try to talk with them, they took only a brief moment to assess them. Their enemies must have found them lacking; they attacked without a second thought. Their movements were fluid, fast and full of strength. No extraneous step was taken.

At that moment, for the first time in his life, Tom realised why they said that the redshirts always died.

Adrenaline rushed through his body causing him to dive out of his attacker's way at the last moment. He pulled his phaser out, while the alien grabbed him by the foot. He fired once to no effect. He got puller towards the alien, closer and then lifted in the air. He tried again but the phaser beam had no effect on the attacker's thick skin. A stray streak of imagination crossed his mind; as the attacker moved to strike Tom's head, Tom aimed at the eyes and fired. He was promptly released to the ground, with half of his attacker's long body on top of him.

Tom tried to move the weight of the alien. It was not surprising that with greater height came greater weight. He struggled under the weight but could not move it. Someone lifted most of the unwanted burden and he could breathe again. His relief was short lived, as another of the locals was trying to get to him. This time, he was prepared, and he aimed straight for the eyes.

"Captain! Aim for the eyes!" Tom yelled at Kirk, who was being held upside down by two of them. Somehow, his shirt was torn from above his left breast till his naval cavity and a bruise was forming on the left side of his jaw.

Tom's advice was heard by both the Captain and the attackers. Kirk was fast; he had already neutralized one of them when the third headbutted Tom. He fell backwards as splitting pain spread through his skull. For a few moments, he could see nothing. His disorientation became worse as he got lifted in the air. The crunchy noise of his phaser between crumbled to junk brought to his mind how horrible it could be if the attacker decided to do the same with his head.

A sharp pain went up his spine when he got dropped on the floor. His eyesight returned in pieces allowing him to see the Captain being lifted in the air by the neck. Now there was only one of their attackers left; and two of them. However, Tom could not relax. Before they were not taken as a serious physical threat and so they managed to get the upper hand. The last one was not going to take any chances.

He felt the Captain's phaser on his right as he tried to get on his feet. Without hesitation, he picked it up and threw it to Kirk. "Captain!"

Kirk caught the phaser and hit the last one of them on the left eye. They dropped to the ground, mixed limbs. Both Kirk and Tom allowed a moment for their bodies to recover; they took lots of deep breaths. They had won. They came out of vastly imbalanced fight victorious. The fight had lasted but a few moments.

"Good call to go for their eyes". At the Captain's words, Tom felt proud of himself despite all the pain. "Can you walk? We need to turn back or at least find someone else".

They had won because their enemies had underestimated them. The same mistake would not be repeated.


	14. Dawn of a new day

Working with Spock was annoying. Leonard had to make sure to compliment Annagret at some point; it was beyond him to comprehend how she managed to deal with the pointed eared Vulcan.

Right at the point that Leonard had enough and was about to hit Spock with his tricorder, the characteristic long beep of his communicator brought him to reality. With a movement, which betrayed annoyance he flipped open the device.

Kirk to McCoy" was the call.

"McCoy here" he started grumpily under the smug look of his friend. "Thankfully you called Jim, one more moment with this half..."

"Mr Johnson is hurt" Jim's voice was full of command, urgency and a tiny bit of anger for his situation and the childish behaviour of his two first officers. Both of them stood a bit straighter, all teasing behaviour melted away.

"What happened? Where are you?"

"We were attacked. Report to the Chief's receiving room. We are headed there. Kirk out".

The first officers of the Enterprise exchanged a knowing, unsurprised and yet worried look before dropping their task to meet Jim at the Chief's receiving room.

#########

Thera and three new guards came out of nowhere. Jim was getting tired of their unexpected materialisation out of thin air. He had been eager to face the Tree Flock people who harboured bad feelings towards them; he had wanted to solve this problem as soon as possible and thus he pressed their luck. He had underestimated how silent they were, how mistrusting they were, with Mr Johnson's injury being the result.

"Captain James T Kirk" Thera's eyes were moving back and forth between the two of them. "You are hurt".

"Oh, I had not noticed" his sarcasm was lost on Thera. "Mr Johnson is in need of urgent medical attention".

"What happened?"

"We were attacked by some of your people back there. We neutralized them".

"You killed them". Kirk would be annoyed by her assumption, but curiosity prevailed. Did he detect a hint of relief in that statement?

"Neutralized them" he repeated slowly.

"You just left them behind".

"My crewmember is my responsibility, Thera" he answered in an annoyed tone. "Would you take care of my crew instead of your people?"

Thera remained unmoved for a moment, but then issued a few quiet orders to the rest. They disappeared silently towards where the attackers lay. Thera took a few steps closer and unburdened Jim of Tom's body. He was lifted in Thera's hands as if he weighted no more than a feather. A small yelp escaped his lips, but Thera was gentle with him.

"Come, I will take you to your Doctor".

#######

"How often is that you see something as beautiful as this?" Montgomery was feeling this type of euphoria that only a beautifully designed engineering project could cause him.

"I sense that the right answer is never" was Annagret's response. She was crouching at the other side of the portals, hidden from his eyes. Scotty blushed a little bit, but he did not let her response to curb his enthusiasm.

"Oh, lass, you are young..."

"Not so young, Mr Scott".

"...and you have not experienced how disappointing projects can be".

"Let us make sure that this will not be added to your list of disappointing projects". Annagret had stood back up. She came to stand next to him. "I think we are ready to run the final check, Mr Scott".

"At the crack of dawn, the truth will be revealed..." Scotty mumbled lowly. Annagret raised an eyebrow and stared at him, with a twinkle in her eye.

"I had not realised that you are a poet, Mr Scott".

Montgomery blushed a little bit, the cold, early day sunrays highlighted it. "Alright, let us go lass. Run the test".

Scotty stood back observing her giving instructions to the rest of their crew. He knew that whatever their outcome, this would be an amazing technological fit.

###

"I think I am ready to go and get a nap" Hikaru yawned. He had spent most the night walking through the marvellous tree flocks, collecting data for Li Ann.

"Now?!" Li Ann sounded incredulous through the communicator. "We need to gather information during daytime. So often the signals are following a circadian rhythm..."

"No!" Hikaru cut the biologist short. "I need to rest, I am sure you have enough information to test your hypothesis for now".

"Yes, however, we will lose one full day..."

"If you are in such a hurry," Hikaru cut her again in his sweetest voice, "the Ensign can beam down and collect the information you need. What was his name, the overeager one..."

A long silence from the communicator. If they were in the 20th century, he would have heard static.

"No, it is alright. I suppose you should rest while I go through all this information you have so kindly collected for me".

####

Leonard was treating Mr Johnson, as he and Jim conversed silently at the side. Jim had just finished narrating their encounter with the five locals. Spock eyed Johnson carefully; he was young, but he had exhibited quick thinking, which often senior Starfleet Members fail to do so. He had a lot of luck, but this did not diminish his result.

"Jim, he needs to be transported aboard the Enterprise. I did the best I could down here, however it is obvious he needs more help". Bones looked worried. "Christine will know what to do".

"Very well, send him onboard".

Bones arranged the transfer to the infirmary and since Jim seemed content to watch and think, Spock fiddled with the wire he used to test his prototype lamp. It is an interesting balance of red, blue, and far red light abundant in this planet. However, this explained much of the way they perceived the planet, the intense sunrays and the refraction of the light around the leaves. He was close in engineering one of them, however it would be logical if a local would assist. They have to learn how to manufacture them, after all.

"Captain James T Kirk, Dr McCoy, Mr Spock" Chief Phera called each of them by their names. Thera and three guards were with them. Spock had noticed that the guards accompanying the Chief always wore a small, spear shaped amulet on their left breast, distinct from other guards they had met before. Chief Phera had made it sound last night as if they are a democratic government, but now his guards seemed more like Royal Guards than anything else.

"I would like to formally apologise for the trouble you have been through" the Chief bended forward as he spoke.

"Trouble? My crewmember must be hospitalized" Jim's voice was a tone louder than his previous dealings with the Chief and the later had noted it.

"It will not be repeated" the Chief was not eager to relate any more information, a point, which Jim did not miss.

"Repeated? How do you know that? Who were those?"

"There is no need to concern yourself with them".

"Where I come from, we... Offer a comprehensive explanation of why people might have been endangered" Jim was gesticulating with nerve till his eyes crossed Spock's. Spock raised an eyebrow and the Captain visibly tried to relax. "We cannot help you or take care of ourselves, unless you inform us".

The Chief looked at all of them. Spock could feel Bones vibrating with comments and retorts beside him, but wisely kept them for himself. Spock was not sure anymore that the Chief was as amiable as he had let on.

Thera leaned forward and whispered to the Chief's ear. None of the words reached Spock, but Jim stared at them as if he could discern every spoken word.

"Very well" Phera told them once Thera had stopped talking. "The five attackers are members of a group of... Anti Eralmets. They believe our choice to come here was wrong; but getting attached to the old planet is even worse. They seek to control the Eralmet and leave everyone who has forsaken the old land behind".

Spock was not surprised. "There are always those who believe that the old way is better. The Xorans wanted to eradicate one of their own colonies for leaving motherland behind. On Earth was common that once settling onto new lands, the old land would acquire a disproportionate utopic image in their minds".

"It seems we are similar to our brothers from the stars" Phera's face was unreadable. Spock was used to the expression of feelings by Leonard, Jim and the entire bridge crew. He was used to the suppression of emotions the Vulcans did and yet, he found disconcerting that he could not read the Chief's expression, even if it was logical.

"What are you planning to do with them?" Jim asked.

"I will present their crimes to the Council during our discussion about your help".

"Did you not talk about those already?" Bones was grumpy and surprised at the same time, a quality only he possessed.

"It was late, Dr McCoy". The Chief had turned his full attention to the Doctor. "I managed to talk with some Councilmembers in an unofficial capacity".

"And?" Jim urged him.

"I hope to get them approve production of the lamps, additionally to the Eralmet reconstruction".

Thera interrupted them. "Chief, you have to go now. It is the second hour after sunrise already. The Council should start soon".

"Of course. Excuse me". Phera was almost outside of their meeting area when a thought crossed the Chief's mind. "Thera, you should stay with the Captain. We do not wish harm to come to him again".

"No word about us" the doctor joked but Jim did not react. He seemed thoughtful.

"Captain, is everything alright?"

"Yes, Mr Spock. Let's go back to your working station".

The three of them made their way towards his and Bones' temporary workshop, followed by Thera. The Tree Folk people who crossed their path, made no attempt to interact with them. Jim and Bones exchanged a look, a silent communication passed between them. Bones cut the stride of his walk and went closer to Thera.

"So, I hear that the skin of yours is hard to penetrate with our weapons. But not so the eyes". The doctor's attempt at small talk was often pathetic. Still, he was happy it was not him.

"Seems so".

"Do you get skin infections?"

Spock missed most of the ensuing medical discussion and comparison of human and local's physiology as Jim got his attention. "Spock, what do you think?"

"I think a lot of things at once, Captain".

"Mr Spock" Jim's voice left no space for fooling around, no matter how much both of them would have liked it.

"I believe that the Chief did not tell us the whole truth. The reluctance to reveal the details was in complete antithesis with his previous attitude".

"Exactly. What do you think is the real problem?"

"We have insufficient evidence to conclude now, Captain".

"So, what do we do, Spock?"

He thought for a moment. "We let the events unfold".


	15. Science officers at work

Li Ann was happy, worried and sad at the same time. How could a human feel so much?

She was glad of seeing Tom again, but pretty worried of his health condition, as he looked pretty buttered up from the encounter with the attackers. She had managed to make a list of potential gene modification targets, and this made her happy and sad at the same time. She got sad because their mission was coming to an end, and then she would have no reason to work with Tom.

She sighed.

"Why the long face?" Tom had been placed in the bed next to her.

"Oh, nothing of importance".

"Are you in pain?"

"I am obviously in less pain than you are" she let go of her equipment and moved to sit at the edge of his bed.

"True... You look healthier than last time I saw you" he frowned. "How come you are still in here?"

"I think Nurse Chapel forgot to discharge me" she said nonchalantly, but she could not stop herself from thinking: did he want me gone?

Tom leaned forward. "I think that Nurse Chapel wants to keep an eye on you. You work too much! Have you done anything else except staring at your equipment since you were admitted in here?" He leaned against his pillow again. "No matter, this means we can be in the same room and I get to see you, even if you just work".

Li Ann felt her face burn up at his words, even though she was secretly pleased. "I am not always working! I am talking to you now!"

Tom laughed and this prompted Lt Opal to stare at them from across the room. She had a hard time recovering from what Nurse Chapel called the "portal sickness". The nurse had waved the lieutenant's worries away with a scoff; everyone recovered eventually. There was no need for emergency medical actions.

"Can you talk with me?" He looked towards the general direction of impromptu working space. "I do not wish to withhold you from the mission".

"No!" She reacted a bit too fast causing a half smile to form on Tom's face. "I mean, I can take a break. I cannot do much more with the data. Some of the other scientists are running part of the analysis for me, while I have to wait for Mr Sulu. He is resting".

They remained for a while in amicable silence. "Come on, tell me about your fight with the humanoids".

Tom did not require much more prompt. He started narrating with great gusto the little walk with the Captain, the looks of their attackers, their every move. He revealed himself to be a storyteller at heart. Li Ann noticed Lt Opal listening to his story with a mixed expression on her face.

"Did you see anything that could help the Chief to identify them?" Li Ann requested to know at the end of his talk. He seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"I think..." He paused. "I think I saw an ornament peaking from bellow the clothes of one of them. But I cannot be sure… It reminded me of a symbol I have seen before… Never mind, most likely it was a common tinker they use for fun".

"Do you feel better, Mr Johnson?" Christine entered the infirmary. "You should rest more, you got quite a beat up down there. Go on, move, Li Ann. I need to examine him".

###

"I knew we could do it!" Montgomery was exuberant. Their tests had worked, the modifications to the Eralmet worked.

"I am glad you are so excited, Mr Scott". Annagret laughed. The Chief Engineer's laugh was contagious. "I will call the Captain".

With a flourish of her hand, she flicked open her communicator, but Montgomery closed it. He waved a finger at her.

"Now, lass, why are you in a hurry. The Captain can wait". He stretched. "I could do with some breakfast first. What do you think?"

Annagret was hungry. "Aye, I would need breakfast. Anyway, they will not wait our feedback before..."

"…two more hours have passed" he continued for her. "Let us have breakfast. We can clock in with Captain and his first officers in an hour from now".

"Oh, I see..." She whispered conspiratorially. Annagret thought he knew what he was doing.

"Shhh now Lt Haas. No need for more talk!" He winked at her and he led her and his crew to a side tent were the Enterprise had beamed food for them down.

* * *

AN: I hope you all are holding up well! I will try and update in more regular intervals from now on :D

Comments are always welcome!


	16. Sulu and the Tree Herder

Hikaru was at the side of the street. He had planned to find a cozy place with enough sunshine in order to get a nap. His wish was to sleep close to the amazingly scary trees. However, he had not planned around the locals. They were up with the sun, tending to their flocks till the time for lunch break came. Initially, they regarded him suspiciously. Once they saw the awe that he had for the walking Treemonoids, they spread their arms and called him closer to them.

For a while a long round of introduction between them and him ensued. Hikaru realised that the proper way of greeting was to bow; the locals got excited to learn his people on Earth often did the same. After that, a smaller local, who nevertheless looked like the leader, grabbed him by the arm and led him away from the main group, in the middle of the forest. Geru explained to Hikaru that all the walking Treemonoids are considered their society's collective flock. Then they separated the Trees in smaller groups, the cohorts, which had a coordinator. The cohorts were split then in 10 groups of 100 Treemonoids each, with each group having a keeper. Geru was the keeper of one such group and was about to introduce him to the Treemonoids.

Soon, the Enterprise's helmsman realised, that he was literally going to be introduced to the trees. Geru dragged him in front of each tree and told him its name. Soon, Hikaru got lost; he found the fact that the man could actually remember each tree name and part of its lineages marvelous. He was a bit ashamed as well; he always took pride in himself for his small garden onboard the starship. However, he never had reached the same level of dedication as Geru did.

"Do you wish to help me collect the bark?" Geru asked, with hope in his voice.

"Yes please!" Hikaru almost vibrated with excitement, which caused Geru to laugh. It was the first time any of them had heard one of the locals laugh. It reminded him of a remote waterfall in Japan, one of the few pockets of nature in his homeland he could access easily each time he visited.

Collecting the bark was a relatively easy task. Geru gave him a long knife, a peeler, as he called it. He used smooth and slow movements to detach parts of the bark the same way an Earther might peel a potato. Then they collected the bark into large piles at the side.

Initially, Sulu was a bit scared, his stiff movements did not pass unnoticed by Geru. "Is everything alright?"

Hikaru felt himself blush. "What... what if I hurt it and it decides to pierce me with something?"

Geru laughed for a very, very long time after that. Were those tears on the corners of the eyes? Sulu felt ready to be buried bellow a tree.

"You do not have to worry, Earthman! The trees do not move whenever they wish to; they have to be triggered".

"What triggers them?"

"Harsh environment, herbivory. We actually imitate herbivory when we wish to relocate them" he patted Sulu on the head once he noticed his horrified face. "You are too small and insignificant to produce herbivory flight response by them!"

"Well, thanks? I guess".

"Why are you scared of them?"

Hikaru narrated their first terrifying encounter with them, when none of them had ever dreamed of walking trees, what had happened to Dr Chang. Geru was sad when he realised that there are no walking Treemonoids on Earth.

"You miss the most marvelous piece of nature that exists" the sadness of the words was genuine and resonated with Sulu. "I wish though I could see them the first as you did. Oh, the wonder, marvel, awe in their sight! I would fall in love with them over again! We grow up around them, we are used to them, they are part of who and where we are".

Something in Geru's voice got Sulu's attention. "Don't you all love the walking Treemonoids?" he paused as they moved aside a pile of bark. "The way your Chief talked about them, I thought that you all loved as they are an integral part of your life".

"We all acknowledge that they are an important part of our society and economy. This is no guaranty that all love them the same way". Geru paused for a moment, not sure how to say the next piece, eyes fixed on the Tree. "There are... people, who love them less than before".

"You had to move to this Planet because of them". Hikaru could understand why some of the locals would resent that. Being told that you have to move away from your homeland due to economic reasons was not so easily accepted by all. "I thought that, even if you stayed there and the Trees would die, you would still have problems with surviving the geological shifts. Or at least this what the Chief told our Captain".

"Maybe. People whisper that maybe this was not true. Maybe the decision of the previous Chief was too rash. Maybe it was the decision of someone, who put monetary benefit above the people's lives".

Sulu marveled on the depth the society was ending up having. The initial perfect, peaceful environment showed up not to be so harmonious after all. It was no different than a normal humanoid society after all; struggling to maintain a balance among different opinions, desires and needs.

"Are your people always satisfied with your leader's choices?" Geru seemed curious to know the answer, searching for something that Sulu was not exactly sure what it was.

"If you refer to my Captain, James Kirk, then I trust him. We are in space, away from our home worlds for four years. We have often been in tense and sticky situations. Kirk always got us through, even when we could not see where his actions will lead us. I learned that I could trust him to take care of us". Did Geru get tense? "However, if you refer to the human society, then, I have to say that the things are not ideal. There is always a lot of discourse around what people can do and what people should do. It was especially extreme in the 21st century".

Hikaru ended up narrated to Geru classic history, from the dark times of Earth societies, as they finished peeling the bark of the Tree. Bera, that was its name. They had just moved to work on the next tree, whose name Hikaru had already forgotten, when he dared asked "Do you have similar troubles here?"

"Oh, no!" Geru shook the head violently from side to side in order to emphasize his words. "Indeed, there is a small part of us, who believe that the choice was wrong and that we should move back. They are not as violent as your people. In fact, they have never done anything more than give long monologues on the topic. They can get pretty heated, and once someone got into a brawled; we are not completely passionless, mind you. But none of them would ever think to act like Earthers".

Geru was convinced about his superiority, and Hikaru felt a bit piqued about the fact. "What about you Geru? Do you wish to go back?"

"I was not born there, so I cannot really miss a place I never called home. I have visited there, with my group, but that is it. If you told me: Geru, you need to move with your Trees there, I would do it without a second thought". He patted the tree. "I will always choose them, you know".

After that, they worked on the Tree for a while longer, chatted about plant species, Earth's history and the locals' history. They worked till the exhaustion from the previous day hit Sulu like an unstoppable wave. It was so sudden, but no surprise. He had managed to relax in Geru's company enough that his body found space to complain.

"Oh, oh!" Geru helped him sit down. "You are exhausted! But no matter, I can see a guard from the Chief's Order coming towards us. There, can you see his ornament glow in the sun. I am sure he has come to collect you".

Geru was right, the tall and austere local humanoid stopped in front of them. "Are you Hikaru Sulu? I was tasked to come and find you".

Sulu had no more energy left to spare, he could only nod in agreement.

"I can carry you, Mr Sulu. Let me take you back to the Chief's house".

"Good luck, Hikaru!" Geru shouted at him. "Come and say bye before you go to the stars".

* * *

AN: I hope you are all doing well and wash your hands :D Comments are always welcome!


	17. The side quest takes too long

Kirk was not impressed with the result of the Council meeting. The members bickered and requested answers and moved into circles again, jumping back and forth in questions already answered and matters already resolved. Sitting in the middle of a round, wooden room, with all those creatures sited on various levels above Jim, made him feel as if he was on pleasure ride, which gave him no option to stop.

Finally, he could take it no more.

"Chief Phera," his voice was loud, clear, commanding and drew the attention of the council members to his person. "May I have the floor? Uninterrupted". He put an extra emphasis on the last word.

The Chief regarded him with his large eyes before nodding yes. Whispers of concern, annoyance and anger rippled through the Council.

"Kind Tree Flock People, please listen to me. No one is more sensitive to matters of democracy and fair ruling than me; I was raised by the united Federation of Planets, which advocates for open discourse and equal opportunity for all to voice their opinion. I cannot and I shall not make choices for you. However, I have a duty to fulfill towards the people of the Federation. I must return my crew to our mission soon. I have solutions to offer you, solutions which you can integrate in your own society and technology without the need of our interference again. Take them or leave as you will but decide soon".

He sat down again, letting the mingle of voices sweep over the room like a tidal wave. He had been called here for the benefit of the Council, however he believed that the council got more confused of his explanations than their absence. Chief Phera was, to Jim's surprise, not very helpful in maintaining the proper order of discussion. But then again, how often politicians were willing to eliminate all chaos?

Phera is stalling for some reason, Jim thought and his suspicion of the benign Chief grew.

"Captain James T Kirk, I am sorry for the disturbance. But would it be possible to have Mr Spock and Dr Chang brough here to explain their work to us? We are familiar with the portals and we will forever be grateful to Mr Scott and Lt Haas for their proper maintenance on our behalf".

"Very well." Jim conceded. "We will" he emphasized the word _will, _he must make them comprehend his intended course of action, "leave orbit tomorrow at 0900, whether you have made a decision or not".

"Oh, we will have decided by then" the Chief confirmed as Jim was escorted outside of the room.

#####

Thera was surprised when one of their guards arrived holding the one named Mr Sulu. The helmsman looked passed out and not dead, but this was not the most worrying part of the whole story. Why had the Guard been around to pick Mr Sulu up?

The Guard paused for a moment on the doorway, looking uncertain to Thera, but eventually they put the Earther on one of their beds. Thera knew their doctor had to be called as soon as she saw the grey face of the crewman. Initially she had been confused by the grumpy man's title, however respect replaced confusion once Thera realised doctor meant healer.

"Morti, go and call the one called Dr McCoy. Mr Sulu looks to need his healing" Morti had always been following Thera and now was observing the Royal Guard.

"Thank you, guard" Thera looked at the guard, a new addition to the group, surely, as all of them were known to the Chief's offspring. If not for the shiny pin, she would have immediately not called him.

The guard nodded, head low. Why so much compliance? Thera looked closer and saw that one of the eyes was looking weird, veiny and red.

For a moment she was alone with the asleep helmsman. The man looked peaceful in his Tree, reminding her of a sapling sleeping through the winter. Thera was not needed in here. The Chief's offspring exited to follow the unknown guard.

####

"Dr Chang, do you feel fit to come down here to explain your project?" The Captain's voice sounded tired through the communicator. "I have to warn you that the Council is not very... straightforward".

How much worse than a conference audience could they be? "I am willing to do what is needed to assist, sir. If my expertise is needed, then I am happy to talk to them".

"Excellent. Mr Spock is addressing the Council now. Please beam down as soon as possible. I want to be done with this side quest we found ourselves into. It has lasted longer than I originally planned" the Captain's tone indicated that he had been fed up with the locals. She briefly wondered if the Council had tasted the famous sassiness of Kirk already.

Tom got her attention. The look on his face was worried. Was he afraid that one of the walking Treemonoids would stab her again? It was Lt Opal who spoke up, however.

"Sir, permission to beam down with Dr. Chang. You are lacking security, and given last night's events, each of you should have one guard".

There a small pause. "Very well, request granting. Kirk out".

Opal nodded slightly to the direction of Tom, who smiled with gratitude. Li Ann wondered briefly what had happened with them. But she let it pass, for now. They would have more time for these questions once this _side _quest was over.

####

Bones was surprised to see Hikaru sleeping by himself. Where had Thera been? The guard told him that Thera was with Mr Sulu. Morti wore an expression on his face which could be described as surprised. He was a doctor though, not a detective. Leonard kneeled next to Sulu and scanned him for signs of anything abnormal.

He never heard Thera came back into the room. "Is Mr Sulu going to be well?"

"You scared me, Thera" he responded without averting his eyes from the tricorder. "He is just exhausted and passed out from fatigue. I will give him a hypo spray to help his metabolism reach an equilibrium faster, otherwise he just needs to rest".

He fumbled with his medical equipment as Thera moved away towards Morti. He looked up to see the most discernible emotion he had ever seen upon that face. "Is everything alright? You look like you saw a ghost, or at least this is how you look to me".

"I have seen something odd and I am worried, if this what you mean" Thera paced up and down.

"Thera, there is one of them coming towards us, I have not seen him before".

"What color does he wear?" Bones asked. He gave Sulu the hypospray.

"Red shirt".

"Ah, security most likely" this was not good. Did they get extra security? Now? Why? Was there another attack? So many questions, but no one ever thought to explain anything to him.

Before any of the questions could boil out of him in his trademark grumpy way, Thera spoke. "Ah, a guard. Excellent. Stay close to him, Doctor. We will be back".

As silently as they came in, Thera and Morti exited the small room.


	18. Li Ann at the Council Meeting

Li Ann was intrigued by all the faces she saw around her. It was as clear as day that the people clustered all around and above her, were humanoids. Upon seeing their unreadable expressions, she believed that their evolutionary patterns clustered with the humanoids in alpha quadrant. As they shifted, she noticed the subtle changes on their skin caused by the sunrays, which were filtering through the wood and leaves. As they talked, she noticed the smooth wavelengths they emitted, matching in serenity the dust swimming in the light. No, their evolutionary patterns resembled more the patterns within Omega-plion. How could she have thought otherwise?

She would have liked to ask questions, oh so many of them. However, she was there with a purpose. Chief Phera was sited across from her and asked all the questions for the benefit of the Council. She had to answered in a way they would understand, as clearly as possible. Li Ann sweated, and her heartbeat became faster. She was a horrendous public speaker and even worse science communicator. She felt that she created even more confusion than helping as she progressed with her talk. Their questions looped back to previous claims, asking to explain again or question a new thread. Sometimes they would ask something forward in the project, which required a long explanation. Usually they had no time to listen to it and interject a thousand new comments. All of them left her confused, upset, angry and drained.

None of the Council members was listening to her anymore. They were rather firing at her questions and comments all at once. She was not trained for public speaking in a setting like this. In panic she looked around the room, till she caught yellow and blue and red among the sea of people.

The Captain must have read her uneasiness, the plea for help on her face, because he sprang on his feet. He was not considered a tall man among the Earthers and he was even smaller among the Tree Flock People. Still, he commanded the room and slowly; it turned silent all the eyes on him

"How do you expect to understand anything, if you do not spend time listening to her? Are your people so set in their own ways? They argue their points before listening to the point it has to be made. What kind of narrow-minded attitude is this?"

All eyes were fixed upon him. His face was glistening with sweat, fire and condemn was written all over his posture. She was relieved that her Captain came to her aid. However, she was horrified of how brutal he could get. Her eyes slid to Mr Spock, his usual expression of silent contemplation and aloofness was there, a fact that calmed her down. He would have been more worried if Captain Kirk was stepping out of his line too much, right?

She could not really tell with Vulcans.

The room was quiet, all the black eyes pointed to Kirk. The room was so silent that a falling pine needle could be heard. Li Ann held her breath. Were they safe? Were they not? By an invisible cue all the eyes turned to the Chief. All expectations were now placed upon the leader of the place, the words uttered next would determine the mood of this summit.

Loud voices reached them. They were accompanied by a lot of moving feet, and clanging weapons. A lot of locals entered the room, in their midst was drugged someone who could not be anything else but a prisoner. Li Ann moved out of the way and managed to get a quick glimpse of the prisoner's face; one of the eyes was red.

Li Ann got pushed towards the side, her talk and all the objections towards her completely forgotten. All the council now fired questions and comments towards the newcomers, none of them was truly audible in the sea of voices. Spock leaned towards Kirk to say something, Kirk frowned but nodded in acknowledgement. The Chief was an island of stillness among all of them. The newcomer's leader separated from the group and kneeled in front of the Chief, a movement which was effective in restoring order in the room.

"What did you bring me, Thera?" The Chief asked in a passionless voice.

"I brought you an attacker".

A lot of loud protests rose, but all were hushed as soon as the Chief raised a hand. It was the Captain who spoke though. "I was led to believe that all of them were apprehended".

"Do you have an answer for Captain Kirk?" The Chief's voice was calmer than the Captain's.

Thera pulled forward the prisoner and forced his face to turn towards the Captain and Mr Spock. "See? The red eyes were caused by contact with your weapon" Thera moved a step towards Kirk. "I am not sure how that attacker left prison. I had made sure that the Royal Guards apprehended and brought all of them to you, my Chief. I am sorry for failing to deliver all of them to justice". Thera bowed deeply.

"I accept the apology". Kirk's expression and tone did not match his words; he seemed to be increasingly annoyed. "I fail to understand why the man was brought here, however".

Thera shot a quick look to the Chief asking for permission. They must have taken it without Li Ann realising it, or maybe, Thera found the carriage within her to go on. After all, it was not as if the Council followed any typical procedures including asking for permission.

"The prisoner tried to abduct one of your men. He had taken custody of Mr Sulu".

"I brought him to you!" This was the first time the prisoner spoke. Someone from Thera's group moved forward and struck the prisoner across the face.

"Morti, enough". Morti stepped back and Thera took the floor again. "The Prisoner brought to me the Enterprise's helmsman; it is true. But I believe it was by accident. He intended to find Captain Kirk and lure him away to a remote location and kill him".

Whispers rose across the room. Most council members seemed to share the same sentiment as she: surprise. Kirk and Spock exchanged a meaningful glance.

"What proof do you have?" Li Ann was surprised that the Captain rose to the man's defence.

"Their intentions of harming you have been clear from the start!" Thera rose her voice, causing Li Ann's bones tremble. "They attacked you, they spoke in prison of hate towards our way of life. They wish to prevent us from fixing our problems, they wish us to lose our beloved trees!"

The shocked voices filled the air, the emotion in their voices caused the whole structure to vibrate. Li Ann's head starting hurting, her bones and muscles as well. She lost her balance and fell to the ground; all sense of orientation was gone with increasing panic.

"I believe it is in my authority to ask when, where and how the prisoner will be judged. Chief Phera's voice cut through the increasing chaos. "We will calm ourselves for the shake of our people and our guests".

Slowly silence came to be in the hall again and Li Ann's sense of orientation came back. The pain was gone, only dizziness and a faint pressure over her body remained. She looked up to find Lt Opal on the floor, next to her. During the upheaval caused by the entry of the guards and their prisoner, she had not realised when the Security officer came close to her.

"Morti," Phera called out for the guard who had hit the prisoner. "Please escort the Starfleet officers to their medical officer".


	19. The decision

"I am glad I missed the session. Those voices seem to be too strong even for half Vulcan ears" Leonard had ended up setting up a field hospital in the hut the Tree flock people had provided for their use.

"Will we recover, doctor?" Spock was rubbing his temples with both his hands. He scanned the first officer once more.

"Unfortunately, you will be back to your annoying self soon enough". Leonard screwed his face. "Till then, I suggest that you all rest".

"Not that we can go somewhere" Lt Opal pointed behind her; a local guard was standing there, talking amiably with another security officer. If she had another thought to share with them, she failed. Lt Opal doubled over and retched. Leonard hurried next to her. The portal and now this seemed to have a bad effect on her constitution.

"He must leave his cursed place" he mumbled to no one as he treated the lieutenant. "It is not good for our health. What good did it bring us?"

"Do not fret, Bones" Jim seemed solemn and least affected by the booming echoes of the Council Members. "I believe a... Decision will be made soon".

Leonard stared at Jim over Opal's head. He seemed to expect the events to unfold in a certain way, resignation and stoic patience was written all over his features.

"How are you so sure, Captain?" Li Ann asked.

Jim exchanged a knowing look with Spock. Those two had been conferring without him. Leonard would have to push for answers soon, but his patients came first.

"Dr Chang, do you ever have gut feelings?" Jim asked instead of answering.

She seemed confused. "Sometimes".

"This is one of those times".

####

It was late evening when they had news again. All the members of the away team had finished their tasks and were now gathered on the grass in front of the Chief's tree house. The locals were polite; they had thought to bring them food and drink. However, Spock knew that if they wished to leave the dining area, they would be stopped.

Jim was pacing up and down, growing impatient the more time they had to spend waiting. Leonard was chatting with Annagret, Opal and Sulu. The latter seemed rather refreshed after his long nap. Mr Scot was fidgeting with some trinkets he had brought with him and Li Ann had been cataloguing the flora of the planet. He had been rather impressed by her diligence in contacting scientific research. Spock would have to request her transfer to his team. At least for a project or two.

Spock walked around the room, hands behind his back, till he crossed paths with Jim. The Captain stopped pacing. The pair of them gazed towards the streets of the tree city.

"How much longer, Spock?" Jim said in a soft voice. "We have business to attend to".

"Based on our experience with the assembly and its proceedings, I believe we will soon hear from them".

"They will be forced to accept the situation. Does it need to take so long?" He grumped a bit and Spock smiled. Sometimes Jim became as impatient as a five year old would have done.

"If your assessment is correct..."

"...mostly my assessments are correct. You have admitted that my assessments are on par with Vulcan assessments".

"This is right, I have said that, _Captain_" he inclined his head and smiled briefly before becoming cool again. "However, there will be the need to show as if all the proper procedures have taken place in order to avoid the possibility of realising there is manipulation of the Council. Especially if that is case".

They fell silent as they noticed a group of locals walking towards their place. Soon they would know the outcome of their labor, or they would get a hint on whether Jim was correct.

"Captain Jim T Kirk," the leader of the group called to Jim. On all of their breasts, the Chief's symbol was visible. He could feel Opal tensing and relaxing behind him. "The Chief has requested your presence".

Spock and Jim exchanged a knowing look, which did not pass unnoticed by Leonard. "Is it safe? Is something wrong?".

As always, the suspicious nature of his friend was immerging. Jim, however, was fast to shut down all the doctor's complaints before they were voiced. "I am sure that the… Chief, or his Council would not harm us" he paused and turned around to face the group leader of the local guards. "Am I wrong? Is my doctor right to be scared?"

If he was an Earther, Spock would have thought that the leader was offended. "No harm will come to you". A deep breath was taken to confirm Spock's previous assessment of the leader's mood. "Do you doubt our intention towards your person, Captain?"

"I am definitely doubting your ability to keep us safe" Jim raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response, an apology. The hard leader provided none, so he went on. "There is no objection to me bringing Lt Opal and Mr Spock with me".

"That is no question".

"It was not". The two stared each other for a few moments.

"The Chief's invitation did not exclude any other members of your group attending the meeting" was the reluctant answer.

"Excellent! Let us go then".

The three of them followed the Chief's Guards accompanied by the low grumping of Dr McCoy.

The Chief was awaiting them along with Thera inside the Council meeting room. Now, the chamber was empty, and the light was not natural, but Spock could identify the source of illumination. Seemingly, they were alone, but Spock was sure that more Royal Guards were just a call away from their Chief. They always followed the Chief, unless the Chief had sent them away. Spock and Jim sat across the Chief and Thera, while Opal opted to stand still behind them.

"Captain James T Kirk, Mr Spock," the Chief acknowledged the two of them. His posture and tone indicated that there would be a prescribed announcement. "I have been tasked by our Great Council to inform you about our decision regarding your offer of help".

The Chief paused for a moment and looked at them. Jim had to lean forward and prompt him to go forward. Phera extended a long hand towards Thera, who handed a wooden tablet with information on it. Spock cocked his head to the side; the young Thera was always vibrating with excited energy next to the Chief. Now all the fire was subdued.

"We thankfully accept the knowledge of fixing and maintain the Eralmet, this knowledge has partially been provided to us. Regarding the light lamps, which Mr Spock has so kindly designed-

"with the help of Dr McCoy" Jim clarified.

"-with the help of Doctor McCoy, we will accept and produce the design for our own benefit. Would you, Mr Spock, spend some time to explain the finer details of how they work? Alongside the doctor, of course".

"I will be happy to be of assistance, sir".

"Thank you, Mr Spock". The Chief stared for a moment to the two of them, in the trademark long and unhurried manner.

"What is the decision regarding Dr Chang's work?" Jim asked the Chief.

"Our Great Council has decided to decline the offer".

"This is illogical" Spock spoke up, ready to defend his crewmate's excellent work. He had followed through Li Ann's presentation to the summit and, based on his knowledge of the topic and Dr McCoy's comments during their work together, he had deduced that she had done excellent work, which would benefit greatly the Tree Flock People. "The proposed modifications would ensure the best, most efficient and surest way to solve your problem. It would be a waste to reject it, and, if I may say, foolish".

The Chief turned and was now facing him only. "I am aware of the possibilities of the offer you have made us, Mr Spock. If it was up to me, I would have implemented Dr Chang's solution right away. Alas, I am bound by the law, as the Council is bound by tradition and superstition".

"Chief-" Thera spoke in a hushed, pleading voice.

"You have to understand that the trees are our not only our source of wealth. They are our soulmates, our responsibility. We were given nature to protect it and not alter it in our whim. We will not mess with what the nature has gifted us. She knows best, after all".

"And yet, you left your natural environment back. Your ancestors defied once in the past what the nature dictated. She had chosen for you to live, thrive and eventually die on another day. Your ancestors defied that once in the past, took the pieces of nature they deemed worthy and abandoned all the rest behind".

"A choice that has led to the trouble we face right now. Sometimes bold decisions taken recklessly are not optimal".

"Sometimes bold decision taken recklessly are the only choices we have", Jim retorted.

"Are cautious decisions taken under manipulation efficient?" Spock could not hold his accusations back. He could feel Jim tensing on his side.

The Chief measured him in silence, his face structure became tenser. Next to him, Thera moved the eyes between the two of them in confusion. It was fascinating to Spock how sometimes people would refuse to believe something even if the evidence was in front of their eyes. "Sometimes, those decisions are the only one we can make". The Chief rose, and the rest stood up with him. "I believe this brings our business to an end. Would it be possible to have your crew for three more hours before you move to other parts of the vast galaxy?"

Jim nodded in agreement and they arranged minor details before they left Phera and Thera. Spock itched to comment on the discussion they had before, however, he wished not to discuss the matter in front of Opal. They would have time later for that.

Once a certain distance from the Council's chamber, Jim took out the communicator and called the Enterprise.

"Lt Uhura. Please beam up all the personnel except me, Mr Spock, Dr. McCoy, Lt Opal and Mr Scott. We will leave this place soon. Await my signal for departure. Kirk out".

Jim smiled to him since the first time they entered the City of Trees and Spock's heart felt lighter already.


	20. Onwards to new Adventures

Helping out the Tree Flock people required more of a couple of hours. However, the Enterprise crew was more than capable to transmit the required knowledge to the locals, and the locals were eager to acquire the knowledge to maintain their precious Trees. Surprisingly, no more assaults took place; no more aggressive remarks. No more tensions arose, despite the sudden request of the local authorities.

Now, they were travelling to meet up with the starship _Agatha Christie_ on wrap speed five. Tom was not exactly sure what the situation was. According to the Security officer's code, there was an emergency transition request.

Momentarily, he thought to ask around and find out what was the situation. There was always a rumor or gossip going around the _Enterprise._ However, they still had at least 24 hours before arriving at their destination and he had in mind a few better ways to pass his time.

"Mr Johnson," he turned around to see Lt Opal walking towards him from across the corridor. She stopped awkwardly in front of him, not knowing how to go on. They had not really talked to each other since she accused him of failing his duties by allowing Li Ann's injury. "I… I want to applaud you on how you dealt with the attackers on the planet surface. Your fast thinking saved the Captain's life".

"Thank you, Lt Opal".

She nodded and they parted ways. A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he moved towards the common area.

#####

Jim was sitting on his Captain chair when Bones entered the bridge. "Why is there no moment we can have peace?"

"We are Starfleet officers, doing our duty", Jim looked up to him when he stood above him. "What brings you to the bridge, Bones?"

"Oh, this and that" the doctor leaned against the Captain's chair. "Actually, I am curious. Did we ever find out about those attackers on the planet? Where did they come from? Why did they attack? Working with the Tree Flock people for three days, they did not strike me as the type of society that harbors a lot of disagreement or secret vendettas".

"They attacked because Chief Phera told them to".

"Chief Phera?" Bones seemed surprised by this revelation. "But why?"

"I believe to manipulate through fear his peaceful but slow society. I do not believe he had any bad intentions towards us".

"Why did you not call him out for it?"

"We had and still have no concrete evidence about that fact. It was a suspicion till he basically told Spock while we talked with the night after the Council meeting". Bones seemed skeptical, so Jim narrated all the discussion that took place that night at the Chief's Tree Platform. "I could not really do anything at that point. However, before we left away from the planet, I made clear to Phera that I will repeat all my interpretation of the events to the UN during their application review. He understood what I meant but said nothing".

Bones frowned and thought for a while. "Do you think Thera was involved as well?"

"Who knows? I believe not, but I cannot be sure. Not that it matters now".

"Are the two of you done revising past events? If so, do you want to join me to the common room?" Spock was standing now on the other side of Jim's chair. "I promised a chess match to Mr Scott".

"I will join you," Bones answered. "I am curious to see how long you will last against Montgomery".

Spock raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side. "I will try not to disappoint you, Dr McCoy. I will drag out the match for as long as I am able".

"Go on, I will join you later" Jim waved them away before their imminent word sparring could distract him further from his report.

######

Annagret plopped next to her and dropped a huge book in her lap. "This is what we have to read for next month".

Li Ann picked up the heavy tome and inspected it. She had a bad feeling about this, and she was not wrong. "Annagret, why do you keep picking those huge books for the book club? This is the fourth Vulcan Classic you proposed during the last week! Where do you get them from anyway?"

An impish smile appeared on her face. "The computer library!"

Li Ann rolled her eyes. "Seriously? It is not what I meant. But it matters not," Li Ann stopped her friend before she could utter another clever quip. "Let us see what Uhura has to say". Li Ann looked around for the co-founder of their book club. Her eyes swiped around the common area. She noticed a few of first officers playing chess; Dr McCoy just sitting next to them, enjoying himself way more than one would expect from a chess spectator. Behind them, a group of security officers were the source of jazz music that filled the room. Uhura was among them. "Found her!"

She got up, holding the heavy tome under her arm. She beelined for Uhura; she had to kill Annagret's foolish idea at the crib. She was so focused in saving herself from Vulcan military history that she did not notice someone being on her way and pumped right into them. Her book made a loud thump as it fell on the floor.

"Oh! I am so sorry," she bent to pick up the book only to see that Tom had been faster and had already picked it up for her. "Thank you".

Why did she have to blush when his fingers touched hers? Why did he have to have a devilish smile?

"No problem at all. I am always glad to help you".

"I know". _I know? _She mentally kicked herself. Over the last few days, they were both kept busy by their superior officers and they had no good excuse to spend much time in each other's company. Now, it felt as if she had forgotten how to talk to him.

"I know? I see you have not lost your eloquence with words" he laughed. "I did not mean to offend you! You have turned red…"

"I am pretty good with words. Usually". Li Ann answered rather defensively.

"I remember. You had a unique way to describe the wonders of nature ".

She smiled back to him, acknowledging his compliment. For a while they remained in awkward silence, both trying to find a way to say the thing they wanted to say. Sometimes, it is just better to get over with whatever you want to do.

"Should we grab lunch or dinner tomorrow? My shift starts soon…" the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. They were spoken in a low, fast voice, and as such, she was not sure she had been clear enough. "I mean…"

"Lunch should work. I can come and pick you up from your room?"

Li Ann felt light as they settled all the details.

######

Bones grumbled something under his breath that caused Spock to avert his eyes off the chest board. Scotty did not react; he was bend into defeating the Vulcan this time.

"Everything alright, doctor?" Spock followed Leonard's line of sight and noticed Dr. Chang talking with Mr Johnson. It had not escaped his attention that the two had come rather close during the mission. It would not have been the first time two crewmembers felt a higher connection while in danger. He had felt the same for Jim after all. "It is not so uncommon, you know, for humans to fall in love".

Bones did not pick up the bait. He was quite focused on his assessment of the newly budding relationship. "They are completely different!"

"You would be surprised how often two people who are completely different fit together like a glove to a hand". He turned his attention to the chest board again. "Done with your move, Mr Scott?"

Scott gave no answer, but Bones grabbed Spock by the arm and wagged a finger in front of his face. "Alright, six months! I give them six months! They will not last longer together!"

That was what the doctor had predicted about him and Jim as well, but thankfully he was wrong. Spock was sure he was wrong in this case as well.

THE END

* * *

**AN: Hi all, this is the end of the story. It is the first story, fanfiction or otherwise, which I kept writing for so long. It is a bit over 30K words… It all started as a question we had with friends; what would a biologist do on board the _Enterprise? _The answer took longer than I had expected or planned. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you want you can leave a comment or send me a private message. Hope you are all well! **


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